When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

Being in the mountains is one of the most majestic and awe-inspiring places for me as it is filled with the vast expanse of bluish peaks surrounded by a bright blue sky.

I love just looking over the vast expanse of land and just contemplating how great and creative my God is.

For those reasons, I chose to read When I was Young in the Mountains as one of the Cynthia Rylant books that I had to read.

The book won a Caldecott Honor award, and true to the award the images are beautiful.  They all have muted tones that reflect the mountains of the girl's childhood; brown is a dominant color throughout that speaks to the natural beauty of the mountains.

Also the pictures speak of the close relationship between the main character and her younger brother and her grandparents.

On the cover, the girl is protectively holding her little brother as they gaze at the stars over their little cabin in the mountains.

Throughout the story, little touches of domesticity, like the grandmother cooking over an iron stove or the grandfather giving the little girl a kiss, evidence the caring and love of the grandparents for these children that live with them.

Though the pictures were very calming and relaxing, there really was not a story.

The entire book is basically a list of things that the girl enjoyed during her childhood.  With the repetition of "when I was young in the mountains," the story felt as if the character in the end would reveal that she is no longer in the mountains or that she had been merely looking back on her childhood realizing how much she loved the mountains.

Sadly, the book does not do this.  Instead it ends with "When I was young in the mountains, 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."

Though perhaps it merely leaves it open what actually happened to the character (if she just grew up or moved away from the mountains), the ending does not tie together any of the fragments of the story into a cohesive piece.

On the more positive side, the book does show the importance of recognizing the ordinary everyday things transformed into something special and worth remembrance.

Though this story was not really a story with a plot and character development and not one that I would necessarily recommend, the pictures truly capture the overall message of finding the special moments in the everyday life. [Pictures make it worth it]