Rylant has received much acclaim for her writing. She won the Newbery Medal for Missing May (1992); two of her picture books, When I Was Young in the Mountains (1982) and The Relatives Came (1986), received the Caldecott Award; and A Fine White Dust (1986) was named a Newbery Honor Book. Three of Rylant's books — A Kindness (1988), Soda Jerk (1990), and A Couple of Kooks and Other Stories about Love (1990) — were named Best Book of the Year for Young Adults by the American Library Association.
Rylant, her son Nate, and all of their pets (dogs, cats, a parakeet, a guinea pig, and a hermit crab) moved to Eugene, Oregon, when Nate was 14 years old. They live in the same small green house in the woods today. Rylant enjoys reading, going to movies, watching public television, and, most of all, staying home spending time with her son, her friend Dav Pilkey, and all of their pets. Her life is quiet and simple, and that is the way she likes it. Although Rylant feels privileged to be a writer, she is unsure whether she will write books for the rest of her life. She is content, however, with the work she has accomplished and feels as though the words she has written have contributed to making the earth more beautiful for other people.
