The Patchwork Quilt

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Flournoy, Valerie. 1985. The patchwork quilt. Ill. by Jerry Pinkney. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0803700970

PLOT SUMMARY

Tanya observes her grandmother preserve family stories through assembling a patchwork quilt. After Grandma gets ill, Tanya and her mother take over the job to complete a masterpiece!

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy offers a sweet story of a family that unites to take part in completing a hand-made quilt with fabric pieces from each member. The book shows a year’s time with an African American family that is a model close-knit, middle class family who lives in what appears to be a suburban neighborhood.

The very traditional, old-fashioned grandma lives with the family. Grandma uses small amounts of informal grammar such as, “These ain’t stuff. These little pieces gonna make me a patchwork quilt.” This grammar example gives some authenticity to Grandma without being overly stereotypical of African American speech.

Remaining with the traditional aspect of this family, the ladies have mastered sewing and quilting while passing skills on to their children. Grandma emphasizes the joy found in a hand-made quilt over that of a store bought one. Mama makes Tanya’s Halloween costume and her own Christmas dress. While these skills can be considered in line with the time of this book’s creation, I also wonder if it, too, might imply that these abilities were passed down generationally.

Life-changing conflict does not reside in this book. Instead, readers will see a shift in Mama’s attitude about the quilt. She begins to see the importance of the quilt in preserving family memories rather than just another project Grandma insists on completing. Mama’s change serves to affirm the importance of family in this culture.

The Patchwork Quilt shows no interaction of characters outside of their culture. In fact, the interactions described include only family members—especially on holidays.

The family’s suburban home is filled with modern conveniences. However, Grandma continues to insist on sitting in “God’s light” by the breezy window during the winter. While mentioned only twice, this reference implies an importance of religion at least in Grandma’s life.

As the matriarch of the family, Grandma demands respect from her children and grandchildren. She exhibits this after Mama scolds Grandma by reminding Mama that she is not Grandma to her but her mother.

Storytelling was an entertainment mechanism for African Americans in the past. Grandma continues this tradition with the quilt. She emphasizes that each piece tells a story. At one point, Tanya explains to her mom that Grandma was inside trading stories with the quilt. Mama scoffs at this idea, which may show her swaying from her family’s past traditions. As explained earlier, her attitude changes throughout the book.

An interesting cultural detail included in the book is Tanya’s Halloween costume: an African princess complete with “long, flowing robes” jingly bracelets and earrings. This example of a princess more clearly represents their culture than the common idea of elaborate gown, glass slippers, and shiny crowns.

With the exception of the costume and Grandma’s speech, this book could be about another culture (such as European Americans) if it were not for the illustrations by Jerry Pinkney. Pinkney’s pictures clearly depict the characters. The characters’ images remain consistent from page to page—which cannot be an easy task with watercolor. Another attribute Pinkney captures is the facial features. Notably, Grandma has a dimpled chin and dark circles under her eyes when she is sick.

In an effort to show their individuality, Pinkney gives family members a distinct look. This can be seen especially in the picture of the family together for Christmas. While the family members resemble each other, their skin tones, hairstyles, facial expressions, clothing, and posture creates unique individuals versus a mass of dark, identical faces.

Also to his credit, Pinkney takes special care to incorporate the liveliness of Tanya’s personality. Her curly hair, always in pigtails, illustrates her youthfulness while her face shows how she matures as time passes in the story.

The Patchwork Quilt, written smoothly with very literal text, delivers a simple yet moving story of a loving, sentimental family who unite through a quilt—Grandma’s masterpiece!

REVIEWS AND AWARDS

Coretta Scott King Awards, 1986

Ezra Jack Keats Book Award, 1986

"There is warmth and intimacy in the richly detailed watercolor illustrations by Jerry Pinkney. One doesn't need words to sense the affection among family members or the pride they feel in their achievement, a beautiful patchwork quilt." –New York Times Book Review, 1985

"Flournoy draws children into an old woman's dream of creating a 'masterpiece' from the family's clothing scraps. This story of the completion of the year-long project—a quilt that has brought a family together in a new way, with a new understanding of and appreciation for each other—will leave children moved and satisfied." –School Library Journal Book Review, 1985

CONNECTIONS

Related Books

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson

The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston and Tomie dePaolo

The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

Family Quilt

Using construction paper, illustrations, photographs, magazine clippings, etc. create a 3 x 3 paper quilt that describes your family. Include members of your immediate family, pets, close relatives, activities you do together, etc. Several quilts could be combined to create an entire class quilt that describes the families represented in one classroom.

Idea adapted from http://server.shopdei.com/rr_families_lp.pdf.

Paper Quilt Patterns

Using 3-6 colors of paper (one 4” x 4” sheet and two 2” x 2” sheets per student), a group of students will create a checkerboard pattern quilt with a repeating pattern. Look closely to make sure the pattern is consistent both horizontally and vertically.

Family Jackdaw Shadowbox

Collect important items that represent many members of your family, memories you have, and pieces of your heritage. Those items are called “jackdaws”. Assemble them into a shadowbox in a way that tells the story of your family (much like the quilt does for Tanya’s family). Write a brief description of each item and its significance. Display your shadowbox and descriptions for the class to view during a gallery walk. After the gallery walk, summarize two similarities and two differences between your family and those of your classmates.