Oct 5

Oct 5 The Reading Nook: When I Was Young in the Mountains

When I Was Young in the Mountains can be accessed by our Duplin County public librarians. Allow 1-2 weeks for them to locate and have it delivered to your local branch.

Hello, and welcome back to “The Reading Nook” where the focus is using great stories to create special moments between caregivers and the young children they love!

We all have our happy place, and whether it be the city, the country, the lake, or the farm, it always leaves us with memories of our best life. For Cynthia Rylant, author of this week’s pick, it was the Appalachian Mountains.

BEFORE YOUR READ: Look at the front cover with your child and have them tell you what they notice. If they don’t mention the way the children are dressed, call that to their attention. Explain to them that this story was written by a lady that’s almost 70 years old and it tells about her life when she was a little girl. Before you read, talk about how things may have been different back in the “old days.”

WHILE YOU READ: Enjoy each page by hearing the words and looking closely at the illustrations. Some things may need to be explained … like the work of a coal miner, the reason for a johnny house, or baptisms at a swimming hole. Help your child understand why things look the way they do in the story and compare those pictures to the way things look today. The general store, in particular, has a lot to notice. You may explain it as being the WalMart of the old days. There are so many good opportunities to compare the life of those times with the life of today.

AFTER YOU READ:

The last page reads like this:

“When I was young in the mountains, I never wanted to go to the ocean, and I never wanted to go to the desert. I never wanted to go anywhere else in the world, for I was in the mountains. And that was always enough.”

After reading those words, talk with your child about the place that they think is “always enough”. Tell them about your own happy place, too. Take some time to draw your happy places together.

Find an older family member or two that your child is close to, and learn a little history from that person. Set aside a special time to visit and have your child think of questions they’d like to ask that person about how things were when they were young. A few to get you started could be …

Tell me about the house you grew up in.
What games did you play with your family or with your friends?
Did you watch TV? If you did, what shows did you like?
Where did you like to go on vacations when you were young?
What did you do on special holidays?
From those, let your child think of some more. Or maybe the person being interviewed will be able to expand the conversation on other things they remember. Mostly, just help your child learn a little history about some of the people they love in a time different from their own.

Cynthia Rylant has written over 100 books on so many different topics. There are early childhood chapter books about characters like Poppleton, Mr. Putter and Tabby, and Henry and Mudge. And then, many wonderful stand alone stories like the one we read today. Here are a few of my favorites:

Tammie Blackburn

Tammie Blackburn, author of ‘The Reading Nook’, is a long-time fan of young children and the books written for them! In addition to spending countless hours reading to her own boys when they were young, she has also read thousands of books to kindergarten classes in her 29 years of teaching. She believes strongly in the importance of parents and other adults sharing a love of reading and good literature with children.

Besides teaching kindergarten at Beulaville Elementary School and reading lots of great books, Tammie also enjoys spending time with her family and pets, being outside in the yard and garden, and playing the piano. She still has plans to write children’s books herself ‘when she grows up’!