Customer Reviews

Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds

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This book is wonderful! I read it to my class to help them understand what life was like in the Appalachian Mountains compared to their life in Chicago. My students were spell-bound, held by the wonderful descriptions and beautiful illustrations. They really understood that there are many different cultures within our nation!

Author Cynthia Rylant and illustrator Barry Moser were both reared in Appalachia, and they are completely in sync on this book. The calm, clear-eyed text and the evocative watercolor paintings balance and enhance each other beautifully.

Rylant doesn't shy away from the harder truths of Appalachian living. About coal mining, she writes, "Many [Appalachians] are coal miners because the mountains in Appalachia are full of coal which people want and if you are brave enough to travel two miles down into solid dark earth to get it, somebody will pay you money for your trouble." On the facing page from this plainspoken truth is a haunting Barry Moser watercolor of a green-clad coal miner, his eyes weary and his skin gritty with coal dust, his lunchpail resting beside him.

The beauties come through, too. Rylant writes, "Morning in these houses in Appalachia is quiet and full of light and the mountains out the window look new, like God just made them that day." Throughout the book is a sense of quiet and purpose and appreciation for a way of life most of us will never know. It's a moving and transfixing read.

Cynthia Rylant has once again captured the true spirit of the Appalachian culture. Her descriptions are right on target. Many of us, who live in this wild and wonderful country, know folks just like those she introduces to us in all of her stories. The significance of this book, for me, is to keep alive the warm, wonderful spirit of this amazing culture she so colorfully shares with readers. I'm giving this book to children and adults as well.

I started crying when I read this book. It is so beautiful and true, from the free hounddogs to the shy contemplaters and those of us who left home and can't quite figure out why there is an invisible rope pulling us back.

I bought this partly because it is by one of my favorite authors but also because it is about the Appalachia people of whom you see very little written. I think Cynthia Rylant has such a wonderful way of describing people and capturing their true essence. Her descriptives touch my heart as well as my 8 year old daughter's. I am especially fond of the way Rylant describes the people in this book and moves the reader past the stereotypes to get to know the real people of Appalachia. SHe does it in an almost poetic way. We love this one.

A lovely book which captures the essence of Appalachian life. Cynthia Rylant writes skillfully with knowledge, sensitivity, and compassion--her descriptions painting pictures as vividly as those produced by Barry Moser's brush. Together they've produced a powerful yet warm portrait of Appalachia.

For those of us who've experienced life in the Appalachian Mountains, this is as true as it gets. It's a world filled with ruggedness and determination, yet with so much serenity and warmth at the same time. Rylant has done a masterful job bringing this to life for her readers.

I'd suggest that anyone studying the many cultures of America add this to their reading list.

Denise Hillman Moynahan
The Great Cavern of the Winds: Tales from Backbone Mountain