The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Rylant, Cynthia

Christmas in the Country

32 pp. | Scholastic/Blue Sky | October, 2002 | Trade ISBN 0-439-07334-0 $$15.95

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Diane Goode. As she did in When I Was Young in the Mountains, Rylant tells of her childhood and without sentimentality evokes the joys of everyday life. Holiday rituals are described in an easy-to-read text remarkable for its creation of suspense and sense of movement. The warmth and intimacy of the text is matched by the softly colored pen-and-wash illustrations, whose details are freely limned in scraggly but secure lines.

Reviewer: Mary M. Burns | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2002