Trains

Reading aloud and sharing new books with my students was one of my favorite things about teaching.

 I loved reading as a child. I would say I have always had an eclectic taste in books and read equal parts of fiction and nonfiction. I could be entertained with an encyclopedia as well as The Hardy Boys. As an elementary teacher, I  have to admit that I loved reading children's books. They squelched my burning desire to read and were easy so that I could read a ton during the school year waiting on summers to get to my rather long list of books waiting.

I tried to read new ones each year to always know what was out there and to be able to suggest just the right book for a student as I got to know them. Along the way I found the perfect books to read aloud to my favorite age group, 4th grade. I found that when I retired that collection of books was something I simply could not part with. Long time readers know I love my books.

One such find one year was read each February during black history month. Now this book grabbed me from the very first page. When teaching those said 4th graders writing, I would have used this to teach them about openings in writing. I would have said this book had a hook or a grabber depending on the book. 

This book definitely had a hook!

Upon reading this paragraph I literally had to reread it. Honestly, the first sentence grabbed hold of me. 

I hope you can see it. I love the sentence, "I told time by the trains that passed through the town."

"I walked behind Papa, listening to the dark, listening to the familiar sounds of the Alabama piney woods."

The Alabama piney woods. Then a train whistle. Immediately it evoked so many memories. I grew up most of my days until marrying after college in the piney woods of Alabama. Those pines surrounded my every view for most of my growing up years. There were other trees, but no doubt pines were a huge part of the landscape of my youth. Trains were the other common denominator. 

"Somewhere in the distance a train whistle broke the silence and floated on the currents of the warm May breeze."

Yep, I have listened to train horn blowing across the road, and off in the distance depending on where we lived, but it was always close to a train. In Columbus, Georgia it was probably a 1/4 mile away as a very small child, then across the highway as an elementary aged child when we lived in Range, Alabama. In middle and high school, we moved about 20 miles to the town of Brewton, Alabama where the train ran right down the heart of town and the sounds at night were off in the distance. I would go to Auburn University where a train again runs right through town and I lived right next to the train tracks for three of those years.

As you can see trains have been a part of regular sights and sounds. Marrying and moving to the Gulf Coast was my first experience with no train sounds. I did miss them, but I quickly noticed another sound that would take their place from then on...the sound of jets. I have a fondness for those too!!!

Back to the book.

The next page is even better.

"A shooting star raced across the heavens and I made a wish that one day I'd ride on a train to somewhere special --- a big city maybe where ladies wore shoes all year long and carried umbrellas when it wasn't even raining. Mama had been all the way to St. Lois, but she didn't think too much of city life. Said she was glad to get back home. But she didn't discourage me, saying, "Hold fast to your dreams and one day you'll get to ride a train, see all the sights you want to see." 

Hearing her, Papa always argued that it was the doers in the world who got things done. "Work, save yo' money, buy a ticket, and that's the way you'll ride ---dreaming aine got nothing to do with it." 

"But it's the dreaming-part that makes the working-part more tolerable," Mama usually answered."

It is truly a wonderful book and filled with so many good teaching tidbits whether writing tips, reading comprehension tips, or those life tips that I loved throwing in there.

I decided to share this one with you, because I was reading another book last night that a line made me stop and pause. You will hear about that one later:)

One of the great things about blogs is I love reading about the world outside mine. I have lived in a small swath of the southeast except for Germany as an infant.

Is there a sound or sight that is part of your core like trains are to me or jets to my children?

I would love to hear.

I promise I am stitching and have some to share very soon. Sometimes I just get a notion to write something down a thought. The other book's paragraph was on seasons. I can't wait to share that thought with you. 

Until then have a wonderful hot day,

Sandy

Do you see Hank Heron?