The Keeping Quilt

For my second non-ALA award winner I read "The Keeping Quilt" by Patricia Placco. The book won the Association of Jewish Libraries, Sydney Taylor Award. The book tells the story of Patricia's great grandmother Anna coming to America from Russia. The only two items she had with her from home were her babushka and her dress. When she outgrew them her mother took them along with pieces of clothing from various family members and crafted a beautiful quilt. The story follows the family's tradition of passing the quilt down and using it for special occasions. Every generation since her grandmother has used the quilt as their wedding huppa (a sort of awning over the bride and groom during the ceremony) on the Sabbath during their traditional dinner the quilt is used as the table cloth, and when a child is born they are wrapped in the quilt to be welcomed into the world by the bit and pieces from past family members. The story also tells the tradition of the women's wedding bouquets. Each bouquet contains flowers, bread, gold, and salt so that they may always know love, never know hunger, never know poverty, and so their life may always have flavor. I thought this was a really beautiful story and I remember having it read to me as a kid and meeting Patricia Polacco. Something that I noticed after reading it this time though, that I had never really paid attention to before was that all of the illustrations are in black and white but the quilt is colorful. I think this is meant to represent the happiness and comfort that the quilt represents as it contains a piece of home and a rich family history. I think this book is also a wonderful representation of a rich culture and shows just how diverse the world is. I enjoy the small use of Russian language throughout the book as I believe it also keeps the book genuine and helps to uphold that family history. Overall I really love this book and author.