Christmas in the Country

I just love the Appalachian culture and if you do, too, you will love ALL of Cynthia Rylant's books for children. I believe she grew up in West Virginia and these are stories from her youth....another place and time. All of her stories are filled with love and acceptance and the joy of belonging to a loving family. She has written MANY books and I would suggest you read them all. I have bought about 7 books so far, and they are so sweet, I can sit down and read them all by myself and totally enjoy them.....but my grandkids think they are GREAT!!! The artwork is very enjoyable and it just makes one yearn to go back to "the good ol' days"!!! This book will not disappoint!

Our son is 4, and we gave him this book on the first day of Advent in 2006. We have all loved it so much that we read it daily during December. It is a precious book about the anticipation and joys of Christmas seen through a little girl's eyes during a simpler, quieter time. I love how it talks about the special joys and memories of each season. It helped us all put away the ornaments and take down the tree with less sadness this year, understanding the comings and goings of Christmas and each season. Ms. Rylant's books are wonderful. We also have "The Relatives Came" and "When I Was Young in the Mountains" and they are treasures, too.

The children and I were happy with this wonderful story. It is about a little girl who lives with her grandparents and her memories of happy Christmas days. The illustrations are wonderful and realistic. A must have for your Christmas collection.

Deep in the heart of most people who celebrate Christmas lurks the archetypalholiday, the one depicted nostalgically in Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory," andDylan Thomas's "A Child's Christmas in Wales." In the archetype, ritual is important, family and friends are important, snow isgood, and a tangerine in a stocking is enough to inspire oohs and ahs of delight. "Christmas in the Country" is a worthy addition to the genre.In it, our pony-tailed heroine lives in the country with Grandma and Grandpa in ahouse that is "small and white. It had an old coal stove to keep us warm and a tiny littlekitchen for supper and a nice back porch for the dogs." In the country, spring is for walks, summer for tomatoes, and fall for apples. Inwinter, "The snow slows everything down. Birds are silent and serious. Dogs stay in theirwarm houses. Children want cocoa and blankets. Everyone is ready for something reallyspecial." And - hooray - the something special has nothing to do with the mall or evenWal-mart. Instead Grandpa will cut the tree in the forest, and the narrator and Grandmawill take the precious old ornaments from the closet that "smells like wool and mothballs." Diane Goode's illustrations are just right - simple and energetic. Everyone's hair iswindblown at all times, as if country folk have better things to do than spray, mousse orpin.