Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds

by Cynthia Rylant, Barry Moser (Illustrator)

Overview

Lyrical prose and warm watercolor illustrations bring a "certain part of the country called Appalachia" alive for young readers. Two award-winning artists, forever touched by their experiences growing up in this unique landscape, have teamed to create a quietly powerful and beautifully crafted portrait of life in a timeless place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780152018931
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/15/1998
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	521,328
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.12(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Cynthia Rylant is a Newbery medalist and the author of many acclaimed books for young people. She's well known for her popular characters for early readers, including Mr. Putter & Tabby and Henry & Mudge. She lives in the Pacific Northwest. cynthiarylant.com

Barry Moser is the prizewinning illustrator of many beautiful books for children and adults, including Harcourt’s Telling Time with Big Mama Cat and Sit, Truman!, both co-illustrated by his daughter Cara Moser and written by Dan Harper. He has won the American Book Award and earned accolades from the American Library Association and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Mr. Moser lives in western Massachusetts.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The book is a treasure-simply a beautiful combination of text and art.-The Horn Book

Editorial Reviews

The book is a treasure-simply a beautiful combination of text and art.-The Horn Book
—

From the Publisher

"The book is a treasure - simply a beautiful combination of text and art." --The Horn Book Magazine

Horn Book Magazine

Like a cherished photograph album, this portrait of Appalachia by two natives of the region is suffused with memories made golden by time. Beginning with the dogs that are ``named Prince or King'' and live in towns ``with names like Coal City and Sally's Backbone,'' Rylant moves to the people, their houses and their activities. Neither story nor factual treatise, the text offers pure nostalgia--a skillfully structured essay that appears, deceptively, to meander like a dusty country lane and underscores the warmth, generosity of spirit and steadfastness of the inhabitants of the ``shimmering painted mountains.'' Rylant is frequently effusive: ``The men and women and children who live in Appalachia have no sourness about them,'' she says; and ``The children love all the seasons.'' But when she focuses on particular details, lyricism suffuses her prose: the ``mountains wear heavy shawls of fog, and giant moths flap at the porch lights while cars cut through the dark hollows like burrowing moles.'' Moser's masterfully executed paintings--from the stretching coon dog to the biscuits that wait on the iron stove--find beauty in plainness, capturing the culture and people of the hollows with affection and sensitivity. Ages 5-up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly