Museum Storytime: When I Was Young in the Mountains
Hi everybody and welcome to theTennessee State Museum story time with
Miss Morgan. It's great to see you guysagain today. I hope everyone's doing well
on this sunny day. So today you guys I'mvery excited. We get to read a book that
my dad used to read to me when I waslittle. It's called When I Was Young in
the Mountains byCynthia Rylant, illustrated by Diane Goode
Hey guys ready? Here we go.
When I was young in the mountains grandfather came
home in the evening covered with theblack dust of a coal mine. Only his lips
were clean and he used them to kiss thetop of my head. You see how they have a
pitcher and a bowl ready so he can washhis face? When I was young in the mountains
grandmother spread the table with hotcornbread, pinto beans, and fried okra.
Mm-hmm. Later in the middle of the nightshe walked through the grass with me to the
Johnny house and held my hand in thedark. I promise never to eat more than
one serving of okra again. Way back herein the back of this picture is the
Johnny house, which is their bathroom. So sometimes people have bathrooms that are
outside of their homes. When I was young in the mountains we walked across the cow
pasture and through the woods carryingour towels. The swimming hole was dark
and muddy and we sometimes saw snakes, but we jumped in anyway. Say "cowabunga!"
Looks pretty fun!
On the way home we stopped at Mr. Crawford's
for a mound of white butter.Mr. and Mrs. Crawford looked alike and
always smelled of sweet milk.Look at this cool grocery store that you
could go to you guys. I see eggs and hamand cornmeal, all kinds of things, just
like a grocery store today. When I wasyoung in the mountains we pumped pails of
water from the well at the bottom of thehill and heated the water to fill round
tin tubs for our baths. Afterward westood in front of the old black stove
shivering and giggling while grandmotherheated cocoa on top. See there's their
bathtub right there. Mmmm I don't know about you guys but I do love me some hot chocolate.
When I was young the mountains we went tochurch in the schoolhouse on Sundays
and sometimes walked to the congregationthrough the cow pasture to the dark
swimming hole for baptisms.
My cousin Peter was laid back into the water and
his white shirt stuck to him and mygrandmother cried. When I was young in the
mountains we listened to frogs sing atdusk and woke to cow bells outside our
windows. Sometimes a black snake cameinto the yard and my grandmother would
threaten it with a hoe. Uh oh, see thesnake right there? He's scaring the chickens.
If it didn't I leave she used the hoe tokill it.
Four of us once draped a very longsnake (dead of course) across our necks
for a photograph. Why yeah that's onecrazy photograph. I don't know about you
but I would be a bit scared to do that.When I was young in the mountains we sat on
the porch swing in the evenings andgrandfather sharpen my pencils with his
pocketknife. Grandmother sometimes shelled beans and sometimes braided my hair.
The dogs lay around us and the starssparkled in the sky. A Bob White
white whistled in the forest: "Bob BobWhite. Bob Bob White." When I was young in the
mountains I never wanted to go to theocean and I never wanted to go to the
desert. I never wanted to go anywhereelse in the world for I was in the
mountains and that was always enough. The end. The reason I like this book you guys
is because the author here uses her fivesenses to describe the things in the
book. So you can hear those frogs, you can feel that muddy water when they jump in.
So what I'd like for you to do today is, if you can do it by yourself, or maybe ask
your mom or dad or maybe an oldersibling to help you, but I want you to
write down what you'regoing to do for the day.
What activities do you do, and usethose five senses to describe them.
So have fun and turn it into a story aboutyou. Hope you guys have a wonderful day
and we'll see you next time withStorytime with Miss Morgan.
Bye guys!
Miss Morgan is back to read you "When I Was Young in the Mountains" by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Diane Goode. The Appalachian Mountains are full of memories for the author, where she grew up with her grandparents eating okra and cornbread, splashing in the swimming hole, and sharing family times. Explore you five senses and use them to describe your own day!