The Keeping Quilt

By

Patricia Polacco

Polacco, Patricia. The Keeping Quilt. 29p. Simon & Schuster Inc. 1988. ISBN 0-671-64963-9

Primary – Patricia Polacco tells the story of her family’s most precious treasure for four generations, a quilt. The story begins on a boat that her Great-Gramma Anna came on to America, from Russia. In the pencil sketched picture (Patricia also illustrated this book) you will see color only on a young girl’s (Anna) dress and babushka (Jewish word for scarf). Patricia gives a little background information about Anna and her family when they first arrive to America. Then, Anna’s mother decides to make a quilt for her so she will always remember her homeland. The appliques on the quilt are made from Anna’s dress and babushka, Uncle Vladimir’s shirt, Aunt Havalah’s nightdress and Aunt Natasha’s apron. The story then carries you through the years and generations as the quilt is used for engagements, marriages, baby welcomings, a Sabbath tablecloth and many other important family events. Throughout the pages you will see pencil sketchings bring the words to life with only the quilt sporting color. The story ends with Patricia herself welcoming a daughter into the world with a promise to pass on the quilt.

Patricia Polacco gives great insight to the traditions of Jewish families. She shows, in subtle ways, how the traditions change into the times as the years go by. The characters are used to show the passage of time and how the quilt travels from person to person. The pencil sketchings are detailed yet a bit caricaturized. Using color only on the quilt is very effective in catching your eye and emphasizing the materials used to make it. This is an excellent book to introduce Jewish-Americans to those who are not familiar with Jews. And, it is also good to use with a lesson on family/cultural traditions. A great activity, for any age group, would include making a class quilt using material that the students bring from home – be it leftover scraps from a sewing project or new material bought from the fabric store.

By Judy Black