Museum Story Time Archives - The Birthplace of Country Music
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Museum Story Time – “Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story” by Cynthia Rylant

Date: Friday, December 6, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month, we will be doing a fun Christmas craft!

About Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story”

In Appalachia each Christmas, a boy named Frankie waits beside the tracks for the Christmas Train, which will bring presents to the children who live in coal towns and hollows. Year after year, Frankie hopes that one particular gift — one very special gift — will be tossed to him from that train. And it is this enduring hope that will guide him to the true meaning of the season.

About the Author

Cynthia Rylant is the author of numerous distinguished novels and picture books for young readers. In addition to her beginning-reader series: Henry and Mudge, Poppleton, and Mr. Putter and Tabby, as well as her Cobble Street Cousins early-chapter series, she is also the author of the Newbery Medal-winning “Missing May,” the Newbery Honor Book “A Fine White Dust,” and two Caldecott Honor-winning picture books.

 

 

Museum Story Time – “The Relatives Came” by Cynthia Rylant

Date: Friday, November 1, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month we will be doing a fun turkey craft!

About The Relatives Came”

The relatives’ station wagon: it smelled like a real car, looked like a rainbow, and was roomy enough for a crowd. Lucky! Because a big crowd in all shapes and sizes piled into that old wagon at four o’clock one summer morning and piled out of it the next day at their relatives’ place on the north side of the mountains. All in good moods. The visitors settled in everywhere throughout the house, laughing and making music and hugging everyone from the kitchen to the front room. And they stayed for weeks. Cynthia Rylant’s words and Stephen Gammell’s pictures take warm delight in the time the relatives came — when two sides of a family made one roomy middle.

About the Author

Cynthia Rylant is the author of numerous distinguished novels and picture books for young readers. In addition to her beginning-reader series: Henry and Mudge, Poppleton, and Mr. Putter and Tabby, as well as her Cobble Street Cousins early-chapter series, she is also the author of the Newbery Medal-winning “Missing May,” the Newbery Honor Book “A Fine White Dust,” and two Caldecott Honor-winning picture books.

 

 

Museum Story Time – “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything: A Halloween Book for Kids” by Linda D. Williams

Date: Friday, October 4, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month we will be doing a fun pumpkin craft!

About The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything: A Halloween Book for Kids”

“A splendiferous Halloween story.” —The Horn Book

“A great purchase for Halloween or any time of year.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

Once upon a time, there was a little old lady who was not afraid of anything! But one autumn night, while walking in the woods, the little old lady heard . . . clomp, clomp, shake, shake, clap, clap.
And the little old lady who was not afraid of anything had the scare of her life! With bouncy refrains and classic art, this timeless Halloween story is perfect for reading aloud.

A classic and fun Halloween read-aloud story that neither you nor the kids in your life will be able to resist, whether curled up at home or in a classroom or library setting.

About the Author

Linda D. Williams is a writer with expertise and experience in the fields of science, medicine, and space. She is a former lead scientist and technical writer for NASA, McDonnell Douglas, Wyle Labs, and Rice University. She writes for children and young adults, mainly about science, nature, and most recently 3D printing. A microbiologist by training in the biomedical sciences division at NASA, Williams also writes science and technology articles and books in easy to understand language so everyone can enjoy science. She also writes fiction as Quinn Cole.

 

 

Museum Story Time – “Moon Bound Girl: Harmony’s World Tour” by Leigh Ann Agee

Date: Friday, September 6, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month we will be doing a fun moon-art craft!

About Moon Bound Girl: Harmony’s World Tour”

Book #2 in the Moon Bound Girl series, “Moon Bound Girl; Harmony’s World Tour” is a tale of a girl who discovers her passion for singing and dreams her way around the world. She quickly realizes she’s not the only one in the world shooting for that big moon in the sky. Harmony inspires girls of all ages to dream bigger no matter who you are or where you are on the planet! The book has a jacket and features a mirror inside the back cover where the reader can see themselves with their own hair in the air with butterflies!

About the Author

Bristol native Leigh Ann Agee is a renowned artist who has been creating, painting, and inspiring for more than 30 years.  As an award-winning muralist, Leigh Ann spent the first part of her career painting over 1,000 walls and rooms throughout the southeast. She created custom murals for schools, nurseries, public projects and private homes. When she realized that people were connecting with her work and becoming inspired by her murals, she set out on a journey to bring her life’s work to more people, in a more personal manner – that’s how Moon Bound Girl was born. Leigh Ann created the Moon Bound Girl brand to house colorful characters that inspire others to hope, love and dream, too. Her mission is to create meaningful art that connects with the inner passion of others. Moon Bound Girl’s story – and Leigh Ann’s – show that if you follow your heart, anything is possible.

 

 

Museum Story Time – “Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile” by Gloria Houston

Date: Friday, August 2, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month we will be doing a fun book-making craft!

About Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile”

From Gloria Houston and Susan Condie Lamb comes the true story of Miss Dorothy, an enterprising and dedicated librarian who drove a bookmobile to bring books to her neighbors in Appalachia, in this companion volume to My Great-Aunt Arizona. This nonfiction picture book is an excellent choice to share during homeschooling, in particular for children ages 6 to 8. It’s a fun way to learn to read and as a supplement for activity books for children.

Dorothy’s dearest wish is to be a librarian in a fine brick library just like the one she visited when she was small. But her new home in North Carolina has valleys and streams but no libraries, so Miss Dorothy and her neighbors decide to start a bookmobile. Instead of people coming to a fine brick library, Miss Dorothy can now bring the books to them—at school, on the farm, even once in the middle of a river!

The book won the American Association of University Women’s North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award and was selected as the Independent Bookseller’s “Inspired Recommendations for Kids.”

About the Author

Dr. Gloria Houston is internationally known as an educator and an author of multi-award winning, best selling books for young readers, as well as a writer of textbooks and other teaching materials. However, she typifies herself as “first, last and always, a teacher.” As an author of critically acclaimed novels and picture books for young readers, her books have won and been listed on more than forty awards and awards lists, with one international award.

 

 

Museum Story Time – “Cowboy Bunnies” by Christine Loomis

Date: Friday, July 5, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month we will be doing a fun bunny-art craft!

About Cowboy Bunnies”

Cowboy bunnies get up early to spend the day riding horses, roping cows, tossing hay, and enjoying a feast around the campfire, but when the day is over, they head home to put on pajamas, listen to a lullaby, and head for bed to dream of their wonderful adventures.

About the Author

Christine Loomis may have a habit of writing picture books on long car trips with her family, but “Cowboy Bunnies” was written on a plane trip. Her inspiration came from a dream her mother had one night, of bunnies in cowboy outfits, jumping hurdles.

An editor, writer, and children’s book reviewer, Ms. Loomis loves in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband, their three children, and one bunny. She has written several children’s books, and this is her first for Putnam

 

 

Museum Story Time – “She Sang for the Mountains: The Story of Singer, Songwriter, Activist Jean Ritchie” by Shannon Hitchcock

Date: Friday, June 7, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month we will be doing a fun mountain-art craft!

About She Sang for the Mountains: The Story of  Singer, Songwriter, Activist Jean Ritchie”

This lyrical picture book biography of songwriter and activist Jean Ritchie-Singer traces her life from the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky to New York City and beyond as her protest songs inspired a nation. The author and illustrator previously teamed up for the stunning biography Saving Granddaddy’s Stories: Ray Hicks, the Voice of Appalachia.

About the Author

Shannon Hitchcock was born in North Carolina and grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the author of four middle grade novels, Flying Over Water, One True Way, Ruby Lee & Me, and The Ballad of Jessie Pearl. Her books have been featured on many state award lists and have received acclaimed reviews. Saving Granddaddy’s Stories is Shannon’s debut picture book. She recently moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where she can see the mountains every day.

 

 

Museum Story Time – “Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar: The Musical Story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll” by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow

Date: Friday, May 3, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month we will be doing a fun guitar-art craft!

About Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar: The Musical Story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll”

A picture-book biography of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the woman who invented rock and roll—a warm, inspiring tale of a childhood filled with music, community, and a drive to succeed.

“Music is the heart of our story,” says Momma to young Rosetta, surprising her with her first guitar. Rosetta’s strums sound like ker-plunks. But with practice and determination, she makes music, fingers hopping “like corn in a kettle,” notes pouring over the church crowd “like summer rain washing the dust off a new day.”

In this stunning picture book, author and illustrator Charnelle Pinkney Barlow imagines the childhood of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, whose rural roots inspired the music we still hear today.

Young readers will see a child’s dream become reality through hard work and perseverance. And they’ll learn the overlooked story of a pioneering Black artist, whose contribution to music history is only now being discovered.

About the Author

Charnelle Pinkney Barlow is an Illustrator, expert tea drinker, and a lover of donuts. Born and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, her love of the arts grew after being introduced to the world of watercolor by her grandfather and award winning children’s book illustrator Jerry Pinkney. Creating images and stories that speak to the hearts of children and those that guide them is her greatest joy. Charnelle received her BFA in Illustration from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and her MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from the School of Visual Arts in New York, New York. She now lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband Jukabiea.

 

 

Museum Story Time – “Lorraine: The Girl Who Sang the Storm Away” by Ketch Secor

Date: Friday, April 5, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month we will be doing a fun rain cloud craft!

AboutLorraine: The Girl Who Sang the Storm Away”

An Amazon Best Book of the Month!

Lorraine and her Pa Paw spend their days celebrating life with the music of the Tennessee hills. With Pa Paw’s harmonica and Lorraine’s pennywhistle, the pair can face just about anything. But when a fearsome storm rolls in and their instruments are nowhere to be found, can Lorraine find the music inside herself to get them through?

About the Author

Old Crow Medicine Show founder and Grammy award-winning musician Ketch Secor teams up with Ashley Bryan Award-winning illustrator Higgins Bond to create this sweeping, epic Americana story about the power of music and family.

 

 

Museum Story Time – “Swamp Angel” by Anne Isaacs

Date: Friday, March 1, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: The Learning Center, Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Cost: Free and open to the public

Join us in the museum’s Learning Center for our monthly Museum Story Time program. Aimed at toddler-age children and their grown-ups, we will gather on the first Friday of each month for a music- or Appalachia-related storybook, a tune or two by WBCM Radio Bristol show host Ella Patrick, and a related activity or coloring sheet. This month we will be doing a fun bear-art craft!

AboutSwamp Angel”

Swamp Angel can lasso a tornado, and drink an entire lake dry. She single-handedly defeats the fearsome bear known as Thundering Tarnation, wrestling him from the top of the Great Smoky Mountains to the bottom of a deep lake. Caldecott Medal-winning artist Paul O. Zelinsky’s stunning folk-art paintings are the perfect match for the irony, exaggeration, and sheer good humor of this original tall tale set on the American frontier.

A Caldecott Honor Book
An ALA Notable Book
A Time magazine Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year
Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

About the Author

Anne Isaacs (born March 2, 1949) is an American writer of children’s and young adult literature. Isaacs is known as the writer of “Swamp Angel,” a picture book illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky and published by Dutton Children’s Books in 1994. Zelinsky was a runner-up for the annual Caldecott Medal for this work. Her book “Torn Thread,” based on the true story of her mother-in-law who survived a Nazi labor camp, received numerous awards including the Outstanding International Book, Notable Book for a Global Society 2000 from the American Library Association, and Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, among others.