But I’ll be Back Again

I really enjoyed reading about Cynthia Rylant’s childhood in her autobiography But I’ll be Back Again. She talks about losing both of her parents at a young age; her mother left her father and then her mother went away to find work, leaving Cynthia to live with her grandparents. Her mother came back to live with her when she was a little older, and Rylant describes what growing up was like for her living in a small town in West Virginia.

After reading this book, I was inspired to look up more information on Rylant’s childhood and life. I wished she had written this book in a more traditional way; I would have liked for it to include when and where she was born and other facts one might expect to find in an autobiography. Instead, Rylant writes about specific events from her childhood—her first kiss, her boyfriends, the Beatles, Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination. When I was reading a more factual account of her life, I discovered that she was born in Hopewell, Virginia, which is not far at all from where I was born. I feel a more personal connection to her and her writing now; it’s always fun to be from an area where a famous person was born or lived!

I loved how the book was set up. It includes photographs, much like a family photo album. The pictures didn’t have captions, and I wish that they had so I would know whose picture I was looking at. I also liked the inclusion of Beatles song lyrics before each chapter. The lyrics relate to what the chapter deals with in some way.

The chapter I enjoyed the most was the one about growing up. I felt like I could personally relate to everything she said about it. What young girl or woman can’t relate to feeling awkward and like they are the only one going through such changes? I especially enjoyed her description of how she got her mother to allow her to start shaving her legs and start wearing nylons. What a clever way to persuade her mother!

Reading her autobiography gave me a great insight into her life and writing. I’m glad that I read this after reading other books by her, instead of reading it before I had read anything written by her. I could really understand where all of her stories about Appalachia come from. It was interesting to read that her grandfather was a coal miner, just like the ones mentioned in her book Appalachia. I could also see aspects of her life in Missing May. Summer loses parents as well as her guardian May, just like Rylant lost her father and essentially her mother. Both girls are young and have to face loss. While she never actually came out and said it, I thought that maybe her uncles or cousins could be an inspiration for John Dante in I Had Seen Castles. I also noticed that she struggles with religion, which is a theme I saw in The Dreamer as well as some of her other books. She also mentions where she got ideas for other characters and themes that show up in her books; however, I hadn’t read any of the books she mentions.

The one qualm I have about this book is that I wonder if it is really appropriate for children. While I was reading it, I forgot that I was reading a juvenile biography; it felt more like an adult book. Do kids really relate to the Beatles and Robert Kennedy? Older readers would probably be more interested in this book than younger readers would.