Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story

Realistic Fiction
Media: watercolor
Characterization: Frankie is a round dynamic character. In the book you see his dreams of becoming a doctor and how he hopes for that every year and you see how he lives his life as a child. Then you see him as an older man, he has become a doctor and his ideals

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have changed and he has grown in his perception of the world and the kindness he was shown as a young boy.
Theme: compassion
Review: This is a good book of realistic fiction, because the town and setting of the book is very realistic. However, the train and the man who brings the presents might or might not be real, yet we make him exist so that Frankie keeps getting his presents.

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Based on a real train, in this story by Cynthia Rylant, we learn that "a train comes through Appalachia every year at Christmas time." Years before, a wealthy man had a car accident while driving through the town, and was generously taken care of by the townspeople. They would not accept payment in

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return for their help, and so he decided to give the children of the town Christmas gifts each year, via a train. One young boy, Frankie, awaits the train in the cold each Christmas, hoping to receive a doctor's kit from the rich man. Each year, he receives a different present, but never the kit he hoped for. Readers see Frankie as a grown man, who moved away to a big city, but continued to think about that Christmas train, and how the man repaid the town for its kindness. So, Frankie decides to move back to Appalachia. He returned to wait for the train on Christmas day, but soon saw a girl trip over her tossed present. Frankie makes sure she is okay, and tells her, "I'm a doctor." I loved this story, from beginning to end. It tells three stories in one book. First, we see the wealthy man that wants to repay the town. Then, we see young Frankie run after the train each year. And finally, we see grown-up Frankie, the doctor, leave the big city, and return to his roots. Illustrator Chris K. Soentpiet's watercolor paintings add so much to the telling of Frankie's story. We see how small and isolated the town his, consisting of scattered houses and a church. As the children wait outside for the train on Christmas, readers can feel the Appalachian cold. We see the children bury their hands in their pockets, raise their shoulders, holding their arms close at their sides, while their teeth chatter away. We see what joy the train brings to them. We see how anxious Frankie is, and how much he hopes for his doctor's kit. And then, that first year, we see the look of disappointment on his face, even though he tries to hide it from his family. Later in his life, when Frankie returns to his hometown, before he tells the little girl that he is a doctor, in the corner of the page, about the size of a quarter, readers will instantly spot Frankie holding a doctor's bag. At that moment, I knew Frankie did the right thing, by returning to his hometown.

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Reading Level 4.0

This is a great Christmas Story. It isn't just a rhyming Christmas tale, but a story that will touch kids hearts. It is a story about giving and loving. Frankie wanted a doctor kit all the years this Christmas train came and the old man handed out presents. He never got what he

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wanted but he always got the things he needed liek mittens and socks. When he grew up, he decided to go back where all of his memories were with the Christmas train. He ended up helping a small girl by giving her a bandaid from his doctor kit now that he was a real doctor. This is a great lesson for kids to see that helping others is good, and not always getting what you want isn't always a bad thing.

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A heart warming story about giving and giving back. About getting what you need not what you want. And how those two lessons turn a boy into a man who's life choices are evident by those to lessons.

This is another in the long list of books by Cynthia Rylant that everybody would be better off having read. Not your typical Christmas story, this book offers us the story of a giving and kindness and more than anything the concept of appreciating what you have for its own good.

A cute story about the magic of Christmas. The story is set in the Appalachian mountains, in which a train travels through every year at Christmas time and leaves presents for the children. The story is told in third person perspective as one boy wishes year after year for a doctor's kit, but he

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never gets the kit. Instead he receives gifts of things he needs, such as a hat and mittens. When the boy grows up he becomes a doctor and return to the Appalachian town.

This story has beautiful illustrations and tells a wonderful story of tradition. I am not sure if the tradition of the train is true, but it still teaches the concept of tradition. This is a great book for teaching foreshadowing and inferring as the author foreshadows the young boy becoming a doctor in his adulthood, and inferring that the boy becomes a doctor as the text does not literally make the statement.

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Young Frankie wants a doctor kit each year as the rich man riding the Christmas train and tossing silver packages to children comes along. Each year he is disappointed to not receive the doctor kit. Instead he receives something he needs plus a toy. The rich man was trying to repay a debt. As an

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adult, Frank who had moved away returns to repay the debt he feels he owes. The illustrations are gorgeous! The book could be used to discuss all sorts of things such as thankfulness, poverty, giving back to the community, etc.

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