Christine A. Elmore
Did you know that this author:
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was part of a coal–mining family whose granddad came home from work every day covered with coal dust
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was a tomboy who loved to ride her bike and play cops and robbers
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lived in Appalachia as a child with her grandparents in a house with no electricity or running water and no car
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had no public library or bookstore where she lived so she read comic books and then traded them with her neighbor, Danny
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fell in love with the book,
Goodnight Moon
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has a white dog that loves pizza and chasing tennis balls
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loves going to the movies
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From this initial presentation I will refer to my display board where I will show my class photos (obtained online or from biographies) of Cynthia Rylant and briefly describe her life. We will then begin our study of her books. For each one I will begin with an anecdote taken from her life. It will be through the picture–book reading that the author's life–experiences and values will come alive for the class.
Anecdote
Cynthia Rylant's many hours of solitary walks as a child in the woods and on dirt roads made her acutely sensitive to the sights and sounds of her Appalachian surroundings. With no electricity in her grandparents' home, she had to go to bed early and no doubt many a night remained wide awake, intently listening to all the night sounds.
Book
Night In the Country
This is a story that describes in evocative prose nighttime in a quiet rural place in Appalachia where even the sound of an animal drinking water or an apple falling from a tree can be heard.
Anecdote
When Rylant was four, her parents separated because of her father's heavy drinking. She and her mother moved to West Virginia to live with her grandparents. Mom soon left to go to nursing school and Cynthia felt the sting of loneliness (even abandonment?) and terribly missed both her parents. Her mom would come for short visits but Cynthia would cry whenever she had to leave again. Fortunately, she never felt lonely for too long because she lived her grandparents, and a young aunt and uncle (stoic, resourceful mountain people) in that white four–room home with no electricity or running water. Ferrell, her granddaddy was a coal miner and had been one since he was 9. Working in a coal mine was hard work that didn't pay very much.
Book
When I Was Young In the Mountains
Rylant tells the story of how she spent her childhood in the Appalachian Mountains in Cool Ridge, West Virginia in her grandparents' home. She recounts many of her experiences there like swimming in a swimming hole, pumping water, watching out for snakes and greeting granddaddy when he came home from working in the coal mines. The family took great pleasure in the simple things of life.
Anecdote
Growing up in a poor coal–mining family in West Virginia, Rylant was surrounded by relatives—her mother, grandparents, many aunts and uncles and lots of cousins. Family bonds were tight and what they lacked in money was more than made up for by the benefits of strong, meaningful relationships with relatives. Relatives helped each other out regularly and faithfully.
The Relatives Came
This is a story about a fatherless family (like Rylant's) who has relatives come up from Virginia to visit and help out—gardening, fixing broken things—for the whole summer. They share a small space willingly—laughing, talking, and eating lots of food together. Although their departure is melancholy, all are heartened by the fact that they will come back again next summer.
Anecdote
Living for many years with her grandparents and visiting aging neighbors on her daily walks down country roads gave Rylant an understanding of old people and their ways.
The Old Woman Who Named Things
In this story an old woman who has outlived all her friends and lives alone, keeps herself from feeling lonely by giving names to those things around her that she cannot outlive—Betsy, her car, Franklin, her house and Fred, her chair. A stray dog comes into her life and she becomes very fond of it, eventually allowing it to stay even though it may live longer than she will.
Anecdote
Pets—dogs (Martha Jane, Gracie Rose and Leila) and cats (Edward Velvetpaws and Blueberry)—have played an important role in Rylant's life in Ohio where she and her son Nate lived for many years and later in Oregon. She writes about them with a keen understanding of their instincts and behavior.
The Great Gracie Chase
The quiet predictable routines of daily life in a quiet house are broken one day when the painters come and Gracie the dog doesn't like it one bit. When put outside for barking too much, Gracie leads a comic chase of townspeople and animals across town.
Anecdote
Rylant's relatives and neighbors in West Virginia relished celebrating Christmas not only because of its religious significance (they were Baptists) but also because of the family traditions (i.e., cutting down a tree and decorating it, leaving Santa a note, a saucer of cookies and some milk). Celebrating Christmas Day was a time where loved ones attended church, ate big meals and shared gossip together.
Christmas in the Country
This charming story describes how a little girl and her grandparents, who live in a rural setting, prepare for and celebrate Christmas with relatives and friends.
Anecdote
Rylant gives an account of a train that would travel through the Appalachian Mountains during the season of Christmas from which volunteers would toss lots of treats and toys to the awaiting children of coal towns. They called it the Santa Train.
Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story
Every December 23
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a rich man travels on the Christmas Train through the coal towns of Appalachia and throws gifts to the children waiting along the tracks. One boy, Frankie, longs for a doctor's kit but instead receives more practical gifts like socks or mittens to keep him warm. Later Frankie returns to his home town as a doctor eager to help people there.