Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Dixon Weidler , based on child development research. How do we rate?
Quilt keeps memories of home alive in heartwarming tale.
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What's the Story?
When you move to a country far away, how can you keep your homeland close? For Anna and her family, the answer is to make THE KEEPING QUILT, decorating it with cut-out pieces of clothing from Russia. "We will make a quilt to help us always remember home," Anna's mother said. "It will be like having the family in back home Russia dance around us at night." The family uses the quilt as a tablecloth for the Sabbath, a picnic blanket, a wedding huppah, a baby blanket, a tablecloth for the author's first birthday party, and more, passing it down through four generations.
Is It Any Good?
This warm, beautifully illustrated book shows how an immigrant family keeps memories of home and family alive through food, storytelling, and a special homemade quilt. The Keeping Quilt wraps around readers like a warm blanket. The book is particularly effective in explaining some of the customs of the Russian Jewish family: When Great-Grandpa Sasha proposes to Anna (the author's great-grandmother), he gives her "a gold coin, a dried flower, and a piece of rock salt ... the gold was for wealth, the flower for love, and the salt so their lives would have flavor." And future couples in the family keep up the tradition.
Author and illustrator Patricia Polacco chose to have the quilt be the only object in full color; the rest of her sketches are black-and-white pencil drawings. In the same sense, the tradition and love of the family brings color to the characters' lives. The illustrations enhance the author's meaning.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the heirloom passed through four generations in The Keeping Quilt. Are there any objects in your family that that have been passed down from generation to generation? Why are those objects so important to your family?
If you had to move, what objects would you take with you that would remind you of home?
Did anyone in you family come from another country or state? What stories of their journey have you heard?
Book Details
- Author: Patricia Polacco
- Illustrator: Patricia Polacco
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Brothers and Sisters , Great Boy Role Models , Great Girl Role Models , History
- Character Strengths: Communication , Courage , Gratitude , Perseverance
- Book type: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- Publication date: January 1, 1988
- Number of pages: 32
- Available on: Paperback, Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: September 22, 2022
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