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Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story
In Appalachia each Christmas, a boy named Frankie waits beside the tracks for the Christmas Train, which will bring presents to the children who live in coal towns and hollows. Year after year, Frankie hopes that one particular gift a very special gift will be tossed to him from that train. It is this enduring hope that will guide him to the true meaning of the season. Ful...more
Published
(first published 1987)
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Wilted
rated it
Recommends it for:
Parents weaning their kids off The Velveteen Rabbit
Recommended to Wilted by:
Thanks, Mom
My mother used to cry at this book. This seemed, at the time, to be the result of some mysterious and alien disease only contracted by those over the age of twenty-one. Not one to question the rituals of the adult world (which was probably responsible for some terribly stunted growth on my part, I'm sure), I never looked past the Christmas card pictures at the story.
I was not an illiterate child. There was nothing I liked more than a good story, but let's face it. My mother would ...more
I was not an illiterate child. There was nothing I liked more than a good story, but let's face it. My mother would ...more
After a wealthy man is injured in a car accident in Appalachia, he is nursed back to health by the locals only for them to refuse payment when he is well again. As a thank you, the wealthy man returns on a train every 23rd of December bringing Christmas gifts to the poverty stricken children of the area. One little boy hopes very much for a toy doctor’s kit. He receives other toys as well as warm socks, mittens and a hat throughout the years. The boy returns to the mountains as an adult with...more
My district was fortunate to have Soentpiet visit a few years ago, and today while discussing Christmas books, one of my media clerks told me this was her favorite one. I had never heard of it, and was trying to come up with a book-themed Christmas decoration for a church gathering. I instantly loved the book when I read it, and set out to decorate a tree to represent the book. Who knew it would be so hard to find a simple train?? It's such a great story of paying it forward, and not necessar...more
Foxytocin
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Foxytocin by:
friend who is a children's librarian
A sweet and thoughtful story that addresses several important issues quite well: want vs need, the significance of giving with no strings attached, introspection....all very adult issues but portrayed in a way that thoughtful children will understand. This is the sort of book that when shared with our children, launches all sorts of conversations we should all probably have with our kids....some questions easier to answer than others.
It's also a tear-jerker for those adults who understan...more
It's also a tear-jerker for those adults who understan...more
More than just a charming Christmas story although it is that. I cry every time I read this book (even though I've read it to my boys over and over). Although I know that is partly because of benevolent people who were like "the old man in the blue wool coat" to my family when I was a child--it's deeper than that and it touches my soul each reading. At some point I hope to understand more fully why it effects me so deeply. (???) Read it and tell me what you think.
I've been reading this with my students in conjunction with a discussion of genre. What's really neat is that, even though the kids are really excited with all the holiday parties, when I get into the story, I notice that they become incredibly still--more so than with other stories I've tried reading right before break. This story really seems to resonate with them.
Beautifully illustrated story of a little boy growing up in Appalachia who enjoys the annual visit of the "Santa Train". A wealthy man throws packages off the train at the children. Each year the boy hopes for a medical kit. As an adult, he returns...with his own medical kit since he is now a Dr. Lots of words for my preschoolers but they held on with the story quite well.
Cynthia Rylant turns her childhood memories of a story of a train that would bring Christmas presents to children every year in the Appalachians into a simple story. Frankie wishes year after year for his gift to be a doctor kit. When he returns to his boyhood town as an adult, we see that his wish has become a driving force in his life.
Paul Hankins
rated it
A lovely story that will be familiar to those in the Appalachian region. Rylant's stylings with Soentpiet's majestic paintings. Putting this one out there as friends look for holiday-themed read-alouds to share over the winter break.
W.H. Beck
rated it
Lesson Notes
Find the Appalachians on the map and talk about what it's like to live there (4th graders study US regions).
How is Frank going to pay back his debt?
Share photo of the Christmas Train today: http://www.soentpiet.com/images/silver%2...
Find the Appalachians on the map and talk about what it's like to live there (4th graders study US regions).
How is Frank going to pay back his debt?
Share photo of the Christmas Train today: http://www.soentpiet.com/images/silver%2...
this one seemed so real!great story about getting what we need (even though we may not realize it at the time) but also, sometimes, what we want.
This book would get one and a half stars from me.
I think it was a great idea for Cynthia Rylant to write about such an extraordinary event as the Christmas train that rides through the Appalachian Mountains area every year. Though I have family roots in northeast Pennsylvania close to some of the old coal towns, I hadn't heard of the remarkable Christmas train situation that serves as the foundation for Silver Packages.
The amazing illustrations by Chris K. Soentpiet are some of th...more
I think it was a great idea for Cynthia Rylant to write about such an extraordinary event as the Christmas train that rides through the Appalachian Mountains area every year. Though I have family roots in northeast Pennsylvania close to some of the old coal towns, I hadn't heard of the remarkable Christmas train situation that serves as the foundation for Silver Packages.
The amazing illustrations by Chris K. Soentpiet are some of th...more
Not the best of Rylant's work. I liked the story but for some reason I found the writing style hard to get my tongue around.
This should rank among one of the best Christmas stories of all times--a story of giving back to your community.
We read a Christmas story every night in December. This is one of my favorites.
This is another in the long list of books by Cynthia Rylant that everybody would be better off having read. Not your typical Christmas story, this book offers us the story of a giving and kindness and more than anything the concept of appreciating what you have for its own good.
Sweet Christmas story about getting what you need instead of what you want.
Story about giving on a few different levels.
This one looks great!
I think this is MY favorite Christmas story. . . Not just about helping others, but following your dreams and making something of yourself, so that you in turn can help others.
Weezie Payton
marked it as to-read
Kristin
marked it as to-read
Valerie
rated it
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An author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for children and young adults as well as an author and author/illustrator of picture books for children, Cynthia Rylant is recognized as a gifted writer who has contributed memorably to several genres of juvenile literature. A prolific author who often bases her works on her own background, especially on her childhood in the West Virginia mountains, she...more
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