Book Thoughts: When I Was Young in the Mountains (Rylant)

  • a girl tells of her childhood living with grandparents in Appalachia (specifically West Virginia)
  • charming, amusing and simply good memories ring out so very realistically
  • a baptism is described and depicted
  • convo: a boy’s bare bum slightly peeks out from behind a towel
  • clean language

Type: picture book
Ages: 3-7
Author: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrator: Diane Goode

This was Rylant’s very first book! We’ve read tons of hers over the years and are big fans. This one is very sweet, and, knowing it’s based on her childhood, makes it that much more special.

I like how it ends–that she never desired to travel to the ocean or desert or anywhere else, because the mountains were “enough.” She was completely content, which is admirable.

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