Books with title Quilt, The

A six-year-old boy goes to spend the summer with his grandmother Alida in a small Minnesota town. With the men all gone off to fight, the women are left to run the farms. There’s plenty for the boy to do – trying to help with the chores; getting to know the dog and the horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. But when his cousin Kristina goes into labor, he can’t do a thing. Instead, the house fills with women come to help and to wait, and to work on the quilt together. This is no common, everyday quilt, but one that contains all the stories of the boy’s family. And as they wait, and work, the women share these stories with the boy. In this spare, affecting novel, ordinary life and ordinary things take on a new meaning, and the bond between a boy and his grandmother shines through.

This fiction title supports and explains a child's world, reinforcing positive social messages around being a contributing family member, a good student, and a good citizen. When paired with its non-fiction title counterpart, it allows emerging readers to engage with both fiction and informational texts on the same subject matter, thus gaining different perspectives, new vocabulary and new approaches to the same content.

The new quilt is finished, and what a quilt it is! Here is a square from the proud owner's baby pajamas, and one from the shirt she wore on her second birthday. There is even a square of the same material from which her mother made her stuffed dog Sally. How can she possibly sleep when there is so much to look at, and remember, and dream about . . . ?