The Keeping Quilt

The Keeping Quilt
Polacco, Patricia
Simon and Shuster Books For Young Readers
Nonfiction, multicultural
k-3

In the Keeping Quilt, Polacco tels of the quilt her family has passed down from generation to generation. Patricia's Great Grandmother and Grandmother were Jewish immigrants from Russia to the United States. Her grandmother Anna was a child when she moved to a new country with a new language. She treasured her dress and babushka because they were the only things she had left form her old home. When She began to out grow the dress, her mother began to make a quilt out of it. She invited all of the neighbors to help her make the quilt. Anna's Babushka became the border of the great quilt. Anna treasured this quilt. Anna used the quilt as a huppa in her wedding. A huppa is placed over the couple's head as they are being married. She wraped her children in the quilt and eventually passed the quilt on to Patricia. Patricia slept with the quilt and used it as a make-believe tent when she was a child. When she grew older she two used as a Huppa in her wedding. she also wrapped her daughter in the quilt that would someday be hers.

I wish that my family had a family tradition the way Patricia's did. That quilt represented so many memories and emotions for the family. Patricia's Great Grandmother was able to preserve their heritage in part by this quilt. I think the women who had this quilt were empowered by it. The quilt represented the hard work they have put into their family. When I have my own classroom, I would have my students make their own Keeping quilt or a class quilt out of construction paper. They would come up with ways to represent their families heritage and what is important to them through their quilt. This book is a great way to introduce students to a culture that they may know little or nothing about. The double page illustrations in this book were sketches. The only color in the illustrations were the quilt. The quilt was brightly colored to show the the life and love that was in that quilt.