Keeper of the Moon

His childhood home in North Carolina was a ``physical heaven,' ' recalls novelist McLaurin ( The Acorn Plan ), despite the hardscrabble lot of his rural family. Capturing the grittiness of Southern poverty as well as the abundance of joy in its midst, he composes a wistful paean to a southland that has nearly vanished. One of five children raised by a resourceful mother and alcoholic father, he became a handler of poisonous snakes and a youthful stargazer (hence the title) while developing a thirst for a larger world. Also featured are earthy Southern family members and friends, their eccentric behaviors and knack for knockabout fun. McLaurin, who overcame bone cancer with a marrow transplant from a sibling, pays tribute to his heritage in this lively, memorable memoir. (Nov.)