In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen/A Little Shopping

Cobble Street Cousins #1-2

by Cynthia Rylant

Cynthia Rylant's delightful series, The Cobble Street Cousins, relates the cozy adventures of three cousins spending a year with their Aunt Lucy in her pretty blue house on Cobble Street. This two-in-one flip book contains the full text and illustrations for the first two books in the series. In In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen, the cousins start a cookie company -- and get to meet some delightful Cobble Street neighbors. In A Little Shopping, the cousins create a wonderful surprise for Aunt Lucy -- a miniature version of her flower show.

Genres: Fiction

109 pages, Paperback

First published May 18, 2004

About the author

Cynthia Rylant is an American author, poet, and librarian whose deeply felt books for children and young adults have made her one of the most beloved voices in contemporary literature. Writing across picture books, novels, short stories, nonfiction, and poetry, she has published more than one hundred works, many of them rooted in memory, family, solitude, and the emotional landscapes of ordinary life. Her fiction often draws from her upbringing in West Virginia and reflects the textures of Appalachian life with unusual tenderness and clarity.
Raised in modest circumstances, Rylant spent much of her childhood with her grandparents in a rural setting that later became central to her imagination as a writer. Those early years, marked by hardship as well as warmth, shaped the emotional honesty and quiet resilience that define her work. She later studied English and library science, and after working as a waitress, librarian, and teacher, she began publishing books inspired by the world she had known so intimately.
Among her most acclaimed works are Missing May, which received the Newbery Medal, and A Fine White Dust, a Newbery Honor Book. She also earned Caldecott Honors for When I Was Young in the Mountains and The Relatives Came. For younger readers, she became especially well known through the enduring Henry and Mudge series, as well as other popular books and series that combine gentleness, humor, and emotional depth.
Rylant's writing is distinguished by its compassion for lonely, searching, or overlooked characters, and by its reverence for animals, nature, and small human connections. Whether writing about grief, wonder, childhood, or belonging, she brings a lyrical simplicity that resonates across generations. Her books continue to offer comfort, recognition, and beauty to readers of all ages. She remains a singular literary presence in children's literature and beyond today.

Reviews

[Delaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!
One of my go to reads.

[Emily Perrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great read aloud!

[Chak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is at an approximate 3rd grade reading level (not that I'm an expert in reading levels - it's just a guess). So far, we've only read "In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen," but we enjoyed it. It's fairly long to read, so I read it to my (almost) six year old son over the course of two nights. Although In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen is all about three female cousins, and how they start a cookie making business and then put on a show, my son seemed to be engaged. The pinnacle of excitement in the book was when one of the cousins figures out that a man she meets might like her Aunt and the cousins scheme to be matchmakers. This dimension of the story was entirely lost on my son. As is frequently found in Cynthia Rylant books (we LOVE the Mr. Putter & Tabby and Henry & Mudge series!), there is a sympathetic and lovable elderly character. However, her story is a little sad, in that she is alone on her birthday because she's too old to go out much, doesn't have many friends and her son died a long time ago. You may want to just soften that a bit for more sensitive children. However, the elderly character is charming, so it's very nice she's in the book.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book itself is written well, however I find the book sexist.