May 24, 2011

Today we read one of the best books about the Appalachian mountains. It is called When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant. It's one of my favorites, and Tim's too.

Here is a review from Jessie and TJ:

Jessie first:
This book is about a girl who lives in the mountains. I have read many books about kids who lived in the mountains, but I  like this one because it gives details even though it is a short book. Basically, the girl is describing her normal days and nights in the mountains. From her Grandpa coming home from the mines at night, to her dinner of cornbread, and fried Okra. In the night when the "Johnny house" was the only bathroom. To going to the swimming hole where Snakes swam but they jumped in anyway. On their way back from the swimming hole they go to the store to get "white butter", and back home again. From pumping and heating the water for a bath, to drying by the black stove where Grandma cooked dinner. From waking up in the morning to go to church in the school house and getting baptized in the same swimming hole they swam in. From Grandma killing snakes with the hoe and getting a photograph of themselves with the dead snake on their shoulders, to sitting on the porch swing peeling beans and sharpening pencils with a pocket knife. At the end I like what she said: "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."

From TJ: This was a good book. One of my favorite parts was about the "Johnny House" (?). I don't know why it's called that! Another thing was that when they had dinner , they had fried Okra. After we read that part, Mom said, "I like fried okra, but Daddy DOES NOT!". I didn't understand that because Dad was raised in the mountains, and that's what they probably ate most of the time. Also, the children (one boy and one girl) would go down to the swimming hole and swim. It looked as if you couldn't because it was dark and muddy, but they swam it anyway.
   A lot of the Appalachian books we've read had a part about a store. This one did as well as the other books. It said in the book that they would stop by Mr. Crawford's for a mound of white butter. Mom said that the reason that it's called white butter because they didn't dye it yellow like we do today (butter comes from milk and milk is white).

May 13, 2011

Yesterday we finished reading a book of photography called Mountain Moments by Warren Brunner and Al Fritsch.

This was an especially good book because it included beautiful pictures of the Appalachian mountains, culture, and people, but also because it was done by famous Berea photographer Warren Brunner. Warren and his wife Pat have sown into the lives of many Berea College students including Tim. They also are frequent patrons at the Madison County Public Library in Berea. 

Here's Jessie's favorite photo from the book:

Here's TJ's favorite:

Here's David's:

I really like this one:

You can check out Brunner studios and order mountain photos at www.brunnerstudio.com.