Living in a poor area of Appalachia, Cynthia had no real idea of what she
could do after leaving high school. She decided to go to college and
attended what is now the University of Charleston. She later completed a
Master's degree in English at Marshall University. After leaving
college, she worked as a waitress for awhile until she got a job working
in the children's section at the Akron Public Library. Here she was able
to read many, many children's books. She became a professional
librarian and completed a Master's of Library Science degree at Kent State
University in Ohio.(3,4)
Her first book for children was one of my personal favorites, When
I Was Young in the Mountains. The book received
the American Book Award in 1982 and was a Caldecott Honor Book. Diane
Goode who illustrated the book received a Caldecott Honor Award for her illustrations.
She has been writing outstanding books for children and young adults ever
since. One of my favorite books is The
Relatives Came which was illustrated by Stephen Gammell. Mr.
Gammel received a Caldecott Honor Award for his illustrations in 1986.This
book reminded me of my own
childhood when we slept on the floor when company came.(5,6)
Cynthia Rylant traces her real interest in writing poetry to a display she
saw in college which had poetry written by David Huddle. She loved his
poetry, Paper Boy which had strong characters, "People whose lives
are hard but are proud of who and what they are (7)." Her own poetry
celebrates the lives of those who live with "quiet dignity" (8).
Rylant writes about Appalachia. She
writes
about the spirit and integrity of family and family life with all its joys
and hardships. Her Appalachia; The Voices of
Sleeping
Birds is especially noteworthy. Her books, with
simplicity and grace, touch our hearts about difficult subjects, such as
aging (Miss
Maggie) and loss of a loved one (Missing
May) which received a Boston
Globe/Horn
Book Award and a Newbery Honor
Medal. Erin Gendron, a 7th grader at Orange Grove Middle
School
in Tucson, in reviewing Missing
May, says, "This is a book which will make you realize how you
would react with death and what your feelings are with death. This book
is a spiritual type of book." Cynthia Rylant has said, "Books alter our hearts.(9)" Her books surely do.
In 1993 she donated her manuscripts to the library at Kent State University. At that time she moved to Eugene, Oregon (10).
Bibliography
Appalachia
Theme unit
Instructor.
Theme Club K-1 Theme unit on family
Pathfinder
for Cynthia Rylant Of interest to librarians, teachers and
parents.
Information
Literacy Projects From Maine Student Book Awards. [Missing
May]. For fun, why not send
a Henry & Mudge post card?
References and Bibliography
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