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54th out of 219 books
—
377 voters
When I Was Young in the Mountains
by
Cynthia Rylant,
Diane Goode (Goodreads Author)
"An evocative remembrance of the simple pleasures in country living; splashing in the swimming hole, taking baths in the kitchen, sharing family times, each is eloquently portrayed here in both the misty-hued scenes and in the poetic text."
-Association for Childhood Education International
Caldecott Honor Book.
-Association for Childhood Education International
Caldecott Honor Book.
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
January 1st 1993
by Puffin
(first published March 30th 1982)
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When I was young in the Mountains
Summary: This is a story about a young girl who lived with her grandparents. Growing up the young girl and her grandparents lived in the mountains. The pictures throughout the book are beautiful and correlate with the content very well.
Response: I really liked this story because it showed how close a young child may be with other individuals other than their parents. The young girl’s favorite place was in the mountains with her grandparents. I’m sure many childre...more
Summary: This is a story about a young girl who lived with her grandparents. Growing up the young girl and her grandparents lived in the mountains. The pictures throughout the book are beautiful and correlate with the content very well.
Response: I really liked this story because it showed how close a young child may be with other individuals other than their parents. The young girl’s favorite place was in the mountains with her grandparents. I’m sure many childre...more
At first glance, the cover of this book looked very uninteresting to me. The illustrations throughout the book had settle coloring but were rich in detail and use of various colors. I enjoyed how every other page started out as “when I was young in the mountains” because this highlights not only the title of the story but how the author wants readers to remember the depth of the story. This book highlights what life is like living in the mountains in West Virginia and brings back memories of how...more
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Summary
This book is about a young girl growing up in the mountains with her grandparents. This is her favorite place to be and you can tell it makes her really happy. The illustrations are beautiful. They illustrate whatever the author is writing about on the current page.
Responses
I gave this book five stars. I thought it was really cute. I felt that it showed the closeness between the granddaughter and the grandparents.
This reminds me of my own childhood. I grew up on a farm with my father a...more
This book is about a young girl growing up in the mountains with her grandparents. This is her favorite place to be and you can tell it makes her really happy. The illustrations are beautiful. They illustrate whatever the author is writing about on the current page.
Responses
I gave this book five stars. I thought it was really cute. I felt that it showed the closeness between the granddaughter and the grandparents.
This reminds me of my own childhood. I grew up on a farm with my father a...more
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This is a story about a brother and sister who live with their grandparents in the mountains. Their grandfather worked in the coal mines and they looked forward to him coming home everyday giving them kisses on their forheads. They love, appreciate and are proud about their home in the mountains. They discuss reasons why they like it so much and some of the simple ways they lived life. They liked swimming wholes,they pumped pails of wanter from a well to take baths with, they went to church int...more
This book is like remembering where I've never been; it is a warm, gentle and dreamy book that calls my name in ways I can't explain. Maybe because just a few generations ago, my ancestors were young in the mountains? The coal-oil lamp, the enamel coffee pot, the fried okra and hot corn bread, the johnny-house, bathing in the wash tub in front of the old black stove, were all part of my own real childhood. Thank goodness the snake-y swimming hole was not. But my grandma killed snakes with her ho...more
Apr 19, 2009
Cindy Benabderrahman
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
girls who had grandpas who were coal miners, people who love west virginia
This book is for everybody, but especially for women who remember being little girls waiting on their grandpas to come home from the coal mines, dirty as all get out, “covered with the black dust.” Rylant takes us back with her to her grandparents’ house in Appalachia, where we can smell her grandmother’s corn bread, taste the fried okra, feel the muddy water of the swimming hole. We meet the old couple who looked alike and ran the general store. Diane Goode’s illustration of the store adds so m...more
Title: When I Was Young in the Mountains
Author: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrator: Diane Goode
Publisher: Penguin Group
Year of Publication: 1993
Grade level: K-3
Genre: Picture Book
Topic: Growing up; mountains
Social Issues Addressed: Growing up with grandparents- extended family
Summary: A little girl tells things she did growing up in the mountains with her grandparents. Most pages start with “when I was young in the mountains” and then tells simple things she did or that happened in the mountains.
Interac...more
Author: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrator: Diane Goode
Publisher: Penguin Group
Year of Publication: 1993
Grade level: K-3
Genre: Picture Book
Topic: Growing up; mountains
Social Issues Addressed: Growing up with grandparents- extended family
Summary: A little girl tells things she did growing up in the mountains with her grandparents. Most pages start with “when I was young in the mountains” and then tells simple things she did or that happened in the mountains.
Interac...more
I really liked this book because it brought back memories of when I was young and my family would take trips to southern MN to our old family farm. It was the very simple life with no technology, no running water, and only nature around you to occupy you. It was VERY peaceful and some of my best memories as a kid because we had to use our imagination to find things to do. I can't wait to bring my kids there someday and tell them the stories of my childhood on my great grandma's farm just like my...more
Children can learn about life in the country in the early twentieth century. In this story a young girl remembers her time in the Appalachian Mountains. She remembers swimming in the muddy pond, pumping pails of water from the well and having to heat it up to take their baths. They would go to church in the schoolhouse on Sundays. They would sit on the porch swings in the evenings with their grandparents watching the stars sparkle in the sky. When she was young in the mountains she never wanted...more
Rylant truly captures the warmth and love of this family living in the mountains. I loved reading the ways in which life in the mountains is different from my own. The kids bathed in a swimming hole and would fetch water from a well, grandma made cocoa over an old black stove, grandpa sharpened pencils with his knife and their family did most everything together. I could relate to the joy that being in the mountains brought this family. It reminds me of spending time at my granny's cottage. Just...more
I've always labored under the impression that little kids will only appreciate a book if has bold colors, a catchy rhyme, and perhaps a furry animal or two. Which is why I'm surprised each time my daughter pulls this one off the bookshelf and hands it to me to read to her. The story, illustrations, everything about this book is lullaby-gentle, and yet it mesmerizes her in a way unlike many of the other "busy" picture books I've read to her. Proof, I guess, that Cynthia Rylant is a true storytell...more
Publication: 1982
Grade/Age:PK-5
Annotation: The narrator reminisces about when she was growing up in her grandparents' home in the mountains.
Themes: Mountain life, social life and customs, family and community activities
Ways to use the book:
Use as a read-aloud with ELL students. Have them practice writing in English by writing and editing their own stories. They will then read aloud their own stories.
Use in a geography lesson about the mountains with younger students.
Have students write their o...more
Grade/Age:PK-5
Annotation: The narrator reminisces about when she was growing up in her grandparents' home in the mountains.
Themes: Mountain life, social life and customs, family and community activities
Ways to use the book:
Use as a read-aloud with ELL students. Have them practice writing in English by writing and editing their own stories. They will then read aloud their own stories.
Use in a geography lesson about the mountains with younger students.
Have students write their o...more
I read this as part of a writing lesson. Rylant repeats the phrase "When I was young in the mountains" throughout the book to introduce a new memory. It is an effective writing trait that helps the reader connect with the author. This highlights the voice of the author.
We used this text to introduce the skill to the students. We came up with a phrase that uses onomatopoeia to describe a thunderstorm that will be repeated throughout their essays.
The book is okay. Nothing earth-shattering, but sol...more
We used this text to introduce the skill to the students. We came up with a phrase that uses onomatopoeia to describe a thunderstorm that will be repeated throughout their essays.
The book is okay. Nothing earth-shattering, but sol...more
My own roots (and my family's history for the past few generations) are in the mountains of northeast Pennsylvania, and I think that this short, sweet book does a very good job of showing some of what makes living amidst mountains such a wonderfully attractive lifestyle for those that love them. Cynthia Rylant writes with a surety born of experience, taking us to the places of which she speaks and allowing the perceptive reader to see that love amongst family can blossom anywhere, and to live i...more
Mar 03, 2010
Tatum
added it
i like this book because it is a crative book i love it it is an amazing book. i hope more peapole will what to read it because it is so good if you whold like to read it come to me. i love the part were is said but the part of his lipes were clean to kiss us on our head i love that parte. i did not like whan it ceep saying whan i was young and in the mountens because thay cepe repeting it that is why. i like the part were it is so good oh i love it. i like the why that they pout the whay that g...more
Everyone has those memories from childhood that they will never forget, in the book When I Was Young in the Mountains, by Cynthia Rylant a young girl takes us through all her memories as a child in the mountains. Set in West Virginia it what seems to be 1960’s or earlier, it’s never quite specified, it’s the young girl, whose name is never revealed, just telling us little details about her childhood memories. It is established quickly that this girl lived in the mountains in a small community w...more
When I Was Young in the Mountains is the story of a young girl’s remembrance of living in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia with her grandparents. Her grandfather worked in a coal mine while her grandmother took care of the young girl, her brother, and the house. Their simple lifestyle was punctuated with no indoor plumbing; they had to carry water in from the well for baths; and they went to school and church in the same small schoolhouse. The young girl resolves that she would not want to...more
This is a warm, picturesque snapshot of a childhood in Appalachia. Rylant's simple but vivid descriptions capture many aspects of daily life that children can relate to, while offering how life "in the mountains" is different from life in other places. The family gathered for a meal of pinto beans, okra, and cornbread and the children gleefully playing in a swimming hole with snakes were two of my favorite moments. I didn't find the illustrations sensational, but they captured the time and place...more
Less a story than a series of recollections on growing up in rural Appalachia, When I Was Young in the Mountains is a gentle celebration of grandparents, simple pleasures, and childhood. The illustrations are rich in earth-tones and have a folksy, rustic quality to them. Also, the book's title acts as a refrain of sorts, and the repetition and rhythm of the work should appeal to youngsters.
Overall, it's an enjoyable book that might be especially appropriate around nap time.
Overall, it's an enjoyable book that might be especially appropriate around nap time.
Sep 04, 2011
Jenna
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Shelves:
book-award,
1980s,
nostalgia,
memories,
grandparents,
picture-book,
caldecott,
own,
mountains
A girl recounts her experiences growing up in the mountains. She and her brother were raised by their grandparents. The young girl enjoyed every aspect of growing up in the mountains and apprecited all the things their grandparents did for them. Adults and children will enjoy the young girl's recounting of all her memories of times long gone.
When I was Young in the Mountains is a Caldecott Honor Book. It is also a Reading Rainbow Book.
When I was Young in the Mountains is a Caldecott Honor Book. It is also a Reading Rainbow Book.
A great book to help students begin questioning stories. The story line tells of how a young child lived in the mountains with her grandparents. The opportunity arises in many parts of the book for students to question different situations. The book gives great pictures and insight into how life was lived many years ago in the mountains without the luxuries we live with today. The story is told is past tense by the little girl, so students could learn how to write their own stories in a new way....more
When Rory brought this book to me the other day in the library and asked me to read it, I had a sudden jolt of nostalgia. I remembered my mom reading this to me when I was very little. It must have made an impression on me because I LOOOVE the mountains and feel very much at home among them. It's a beautifully written book and the illustrations are interesting enough that your five-year old will remember them when she's grown and has children of her own.
Wow. Cynthia Rylant's first book. She has written quite a few of them, too. I knew from the first page that this book was based on not just a life in the mountains, but a life in the beautiful Applachians (aka WV). The book is based on the author's memories of her time spent with her grandparents in the mountains. It's a reminder of the old, nice, slow, easy-going ways of some of the mountain folks. If only all of it could be that idealistic still.
This book reflects on someone's life as a young child. They talk about the scenery as well as activities they used to enjoy. I like the fact that it opens discussion for setting and details. It also provides opportunity to review imagery and repetition throughout text. I'm not the biggest fan of the book simply because I prefer books with a stronger plot. However, I think that there is a lot that you can do with this book educational wise because you can use it to model certain types of imagery...more
I like the author's repeating line "When I was young in the mountains...," because it seems as though the character is writing out an on-going thought she has. This book is a great way to introduce different cultures (and their customs) from a moment in time- an historical period, if you will. The introduction of the "Johnny-house" is an example of what a particular culture (mountain folk) called an outhouse (restrooms in the past). This book offers the perspective of a young girl growing up in...more
"When I Was Young in the Mountains" is a great book about a little girl's memories of her life and growing up in the mountains. The author repeats "When I was young I'm the mountains" throughout the story to show a never-ending thought.
This book can be used in the classroom to teach students about a childhood memory that they may have had. Also, it has great illustrations for making predictions and vivid vocabulary to show students how they can use sensory words to bring their memories to life....more
This book can be used in the classroom to teach students about a childhood memory that they may have had. Also, it has great illustrations for making predictions and vivid vocabulary to show students how they can use sensory words to bring their memories to life....more
A warm and tender ode to the joy of "simpler" times--simpler places. The story's tone of comfort and emotional well being made me feel nostalgic about my own "simple" childhood--though more modern, and not at all the same circumstances--on a farm in the West. I didn't care for the snake, but loved the Grandmother crying at the baptism. Completely related to the contented fulfillment expressed on the last page. A sweet reflection.
I really liked this book. It was a sweet story about life in the mountains. As the author tells this story you can almost smell the cornbread,okra and pinto beans. Life with grandma and grandpa is wholesome and true, with trips to the local store to purchase white butter and sweet milk. Life in the mountains when you are young is one thing you will never forget- I grew up there and this was like a text to self connection for me.
This is a nice, relaxing, and peaceful book to read. Rylant takes us back in time to her time in Appalachia with her grandparents and tells us the great times she had, and how much she loved being there. It's very nostalgic, and even makes oneself think of their childhood and reminds us of our favorite place to go as a child. The illustrations complement the text very well and it's an easy read for children.
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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
More about Cynthia Rylant...
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