Stitchin' and Pullin': A Gee's Bend Quilt

by Patricia C. McKissack, Cozbi A. Cabrera (Illustrator)

Overview

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, grandmother and granddaughter, aunt and niece, friend and friend. For a hundred years, generations of women from Gee’s Bend have quilted together, sharing stories, trading recipes, singing hymns—all the while stitchin’ and pullin’ thread through cloth. Every day Baby Girl listens, watches, and waits, until she’s called to sit at the quilting frame. Piece by piece, she puzzles her quilt together—telling not just her story, but the story of her family, the story of Gee’s Bend, and the story of her ancestors’ struggle for freedom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307978394
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	05/30/2012
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	56 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	6 - 10 Years

About the Author

Patricia C. McKissack is the author of the Caldecott Honor Book Mirandy and Brother Wind and the Newbery Honor Book The Dark-Thirty. She and her husband, Fred, have written over 100 books about the African American experience. She has also received the Regina Medal for lifetime achievement in children’s books and the Virginia Hamilton Award. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Cozbi Cabrera is the illustrator of the picture books Beauty, Her Basket, and Thanks a Million. You can visit her Web site at www.cozbi.com. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

McKissack's series of poems tells the story of and honors the history of the women quilters of Gee's Bend, Ala. For years, these emancipated former slaves existed out of the mainstream before being "discovered" and celebrated for preserving a unique way of life. The women's quilts pay tribute to their lives' major events, such as registering to vote and marching with Martin Luther King Jr., and the process of quilting serves as a critical way to pass on to their children songs and family stories, and, of course, how to quilt. Baby Girl is at the center of the book, growing from a little one who plays on a quilt under the ladies' quilting frame to a girl who pieces together her own story and learns how to quilt it. Cabrera's vibrant paintings incorporate collage elements in both somber and vibrant colors that reflect struggles for freedom along with the collaborative warmth of quilting parties. An outstanding way to introduce aspects of African-American history and explore the power of community. (Picture book/poetry. 6-12)

Kirkus Reviews

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2008:
"An outstanding way to introduce aspects of African-American history and explore the power of community."

From the Publisher