AUTHOR

“This story was inspired by two true events. One is the annual trip through the Appalachian mountains by the “Santa Train.” Each year volunteers throw packages from the train to the children living in the hills and hollows who don’t have much. The train started visiting in 1940 and has been “Santa” ever since.

And the second true event which inspired SILVER PACKAGES was my own longing as a child. I was living with my grandparents, who didn’t have much money. They took me to a place where poor children were given one Christmas present apiece. I saw a nurse kit and really wanted it, for my mother was away studying to become a nurse. But another child ahead of me chose the kit, and I didn’t get one.

The illustrator of this book, Chris Soentpiet, actually made a trip from New York City to West Virginia to see Appalachian mountains and homes. He visited Logan and Boone counties, which are very isolated and still look so much as they did fifty years ago. As a result, Chris’s paintings are both authentic and luminous.” – Cynthia Rylant

Cynthia Rylant has written many award winning books, including Missing May, winner of the Newberry Medal; Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds, which won the Boston Glove-Horn Book Award; and When I was Young in the Mountains, a Caldecott Honor book. Learn more about Cynthia on her website at:  cynthiarylant.com