July 16, 2010

1985 - The Realtives Came

Author: Cynthia Rylant

Illustrator: Stephen Gammell

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

ISBN: 0 689 84508 1

When I was asked to select a book on a "Memoir", I was unsure of what type of genre that exactly was. Once explained to me in class, I immediately thought of "The Relatives Came." I closely personally relate to the warmth, chaos and love that comes with the extended family coming to visit as told in this wonderful book. I too remember the days of having to travel to Greece in that long airplane ride with layovers just waiting and anticipating to see my grandparents and great grandparents and all those aunts and uncles and cousins in that tiny village of Agios Antonios. I still remember that distict smell of these particular sweet flowers, the large gatherings at the table with endless food, my whole family gathered in one little bedroom sharing beds and all the wet kisses that I had to keep wiping away when no one was looking! Yep! Those were the days!

Just as these were the days for two sides of a family coming together in this hilarious book. The illustrations being a Caldecott medal winner, is what I feel really brought this book to life. The way the characters are depicted and portrayed pulls you into feeling exactly what they are feeling. You feel the emotional closeness, feel the fun, and even hear the breathing when its time to sleep. The anticipation of the drive coming in from Virginia at 4:00 o'clock in the morning to somewhere on the other side of the mountain left me on the edge of my seat and then so comforted with all the family hugs (for hours of hugging that is) once the two families unite! What an experience!

This close knit American family comes together on a summer vacation to help eachother out. They spend their time fixing broken things around the house, they garden, they eat and boy do they eat, and sleep all together filling every nook and crany in the house. They spend many weeks together and later depart in the same way they came at 4 in morning. They leave and go back home to Virginia only to realize how much they miss each other and decide to compensate for the sadness by going back again next year.

This book discusses family time and how the importance of helping each other out enhances each others lives. It is important to note and take into consideration that there may be children that can't make this connection with an extended family. So as an educator you can tell the children about an experience that you had with your family and then ask them to share theirs, enabling them to make a connection to the theme in this story.

You can use this engaging story on a thematic unit on family, discuss descriptive writing bringing forth visuals i.e. "Then it was hugging time. Talk about hugging. Those relative just passed us all around their car, pulling us against their wrinkled Virginia clothes, crying sometimes. They hugged us for hours." You can just see it all with this one paragraph. The children can act out the physical actions and sounds of the story, and even might want to take turns acting out the familiy members. They can draw and discuss their personal family experience. This all enhancing their literacy skills.

This book was a joy to read and really enjoyed the animated illustrations. Brought back a lot of memories for me. A definite read and can't wait to share it with my new set of students in September.