When I Was Young In the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

Realistic Fiction

This is a story told by a little girl about the simple and happy pleasures of her grandparents' home in the mountains. Each page was a remembrance she had of her time spent in the mountains. The girl recalled her grandmother's cooking, going to the general store, swimming in the watering hole and going to church on Sundays. Her experiences were illustrated with cheerful pictures that evoke a feeling of a family's love and her own love for the mountain she held so dear. Because the pictures so beautifully illustrate the author's words, this story would be an excellent read-aloud to younger elementary students. The book would also create a means for discussion amoung students, as it tells of a young girl with a passion for her mountain. Students could use this book as a beginning for their own creative writing project. Because the author uses similar sentence structures throughout and a writing style that suits the mood of the story, students could use the book as a model to create their own story. The teacher could introduce a new setting and allow the students to write a new story based on the new location, or the students could write individually about when they were younger.