Zoey is waiting for you to do a Dora story time video!!!

Cynthia Rylant! Oh, I love that author and I love this book. When I was a student teacher, I had a class whose students were largely of Appalachian heritage, so I did a unit on Appalachia. This was one of the books that I used.

If you haven’t heard of her, may I suggest Rebecca Caudill? Like Rylant, she’s an Appalachian author, but she hails from Kentucky. She also has one of THE very best Christmas stories ever — A Certain Small Shepherd. The book was written long before autism was diagnosed or discussed, but the main character of the story is a little boy who is nonverbal and is clearly autistic. Even if your child isn’t autistic, I guarantee it’ll bring a sniffle and a good, warm feeling, but if your child is (like mine) — well, you’ll probably do more than sniffle. But it’s a wonderful story, and touches upon a southeastern Kentucky legend, the Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come.

I’d also recommend her Best Loved Doll or A Pocket Full of Cricket for young readers, or Barrie and Daughter for older ones. Really, anything she wrote was wonderful.