Fourth Grade
Worksheets
Cynthia Rylant
Cynthia Rylant
Reading Comprehension for June 6
You may not recognize the name of Cynthia Rylant, but you probably recognize her characters. Do you recall Henry and his dog Mudge? Do you remember Poppleton, the very large pig, and all of his adventures? Perhaps you remember Mr. Putter, an old man, who adopts Tabby, an old cat. You guessed it. Cynthia Rylant is the author who created all these characters, and she also wrote many novels for older readers.
Cynthia Rylant was born on June 6, 1954, in Hopewell, Virginia. Her parents were not happy together so they got divorced. When Cynthia was four, her mother decided to go to nursing school, so Cynthia went to live with her grandparents in Cool Ridge, West Virginia. This time in her life had a great impact on her. She and her grandparents lived a very simple life. They had no electricity or running water. However, they loved the country life. She liked animals and playing growing up. She never even saw a children's book growing up because she lived in a very poor area in the Appalachian region. Her grandfather always taught her, though, to do the best she could with what she had.
After staying with her grandparents for four years, Cynthia went to live with her mother in Beaver, West Virginia. She grew up and went to college. She received a B.A. degree from Morris Harvey College in 1975. In 1976, she received her M.A. degree from Marshall University. For a while, Cynthia worked as a waitress. Then she took a job in the children's section of the library. She would read children's books for hours at night. This is when she knew she wanted to be a writer.
