Book Review: When I Was Young and In the Mountains

Allow me to introduce you to an award-winning picture book: When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant.

This lovely book was awarded as a Caldecott Honor Book and a Reading Rainbow Book. I can see why. I hope you will give it a look as well.

​Its 28 pages are all filled with beautiful drawings and simple descriptions of a time gone, by Diane Goode, by that most of us only have pictured in movies and TV shows.
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I was introduced to this book as part of a Middle School Writing curriculum. The repeated use of the phrase “When I was young in the mountains” at the beginning of many of the sentences in this book provided an excellent example for young writers to think about when they were young and write a collection of sentences about their own adventures.

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My father was recently telling me about when his grandparents got electricity in their home. He mentioned his grandmother’s cast iron wood burning stove and the biscuits which rested in a pan after breakfast was cleaned up. I love hearing his stories about his youth on their mid-western farm. You will love hearing Ms. Rylant’s stories about living in the mountains.

I look forward to reading this book to my grandsons. I’m going to show them the pictures and tell them how Great-Grandpa, whom they see about once per month, played in a swimming hole. We’ll also be able to show pictures from this book and talk about Mammaw, my husband’s mother, and how she grew up in a small town in Maine and visited a country store like the one pictured.

I think every member of your family from oldest to youngest will enjoy this delightful book. It can be an excellent spring board from which older members can tell your family about a time when things weren’t so busy as they are today. The younger ones can compare the experiences and pictures of the family in this book to their own.

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Would you like to read more book reviews? Visit our website, Joyful and Successful Homeschooling's Book Reviews Page. You can read about more great books for you and your children to read.

We also have free reading lists for every member of your family. Check them out here: Joyful and Successful Homeschooling's Reading Lists.

You can learn more about teaching your children to read in Joyful and Successful Homeschooling, an incredible resource for all things homeschooling. Joyful and Successful Homeschooling can be purchase at Amazon. The E-book can be purchased at PayHip or Currclick.

We love books and hope your family does, too. Happy Reading!

Warmly, 
Laura Nolette

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