Abbie in Stitches [Hardcover]

Cynthia Cotten (Author), Beth Peck (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

It’s the early 1800s, and Abbie’s sister, Sarah, is a proper young lady who loves needlework. She has already made a sampler displaying her neat and even stitching. But when it becomes time for Abbie to make her sampler, she despairs – she hates needlework and would much rather curl up with one of the books on Papa’s shelf. How will she ever get through the long, tedious hours of needlework? And how can she pick a subject for a picture to sew when she really doesn’t care about the sampler at all? After considering what’s really important to her, Abbie completes the sampler in a way that is all her own.
 
Lovely pastel illustrations accompany this story about a girl who is not afraid to speak (or sew) what’s really on her mind – that she would rather be reading.

 

Abbie in Stitches is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-3–In this pleasant family story set in western New York in the early 1820s, Abbie, who is perhaps six or seven, attends sewing classes but would rather read than stitch the required sampler. To make matters worse, her older sister has set a challenging example. Done in soft focus, the double-page paintings with framed text blocks create a good sense of the period, Abbies home life, and Mrs. Browns Wednesday-afternoon embroidery sessions. The story spans several months of the girls struggles with less-than-neat fabric and stitches and her final humorous statement of rebellion, sewn into the bottom of her work. Though the story focuses on the laborious needlework, no distinct picture of it or any sampler is provided–all are only suggested in indistinct form. An afterword describes the eras educational practices for girls and the emphasis placed on the embroidered sampler. A good selection for those who like reading about life in other times.–Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Abbie is firmly told, "Books are for boys, needlework is for girls," but she hates her weekly needlework lessons. "I will not stitch when I'm grown. I'll have books instead of needles and thread, and read as much as I like." In the 1800s, however, fine needlework was what was expected from young women. Abbie's frustration grows as she tries to finish her first sampler, but wise words from her teacher point her toward a solution. Peck's attractive, painterly illustrations have a layered look; their broad brush strokes contrast nicely with the delicate preciseness of Abbie's embroidery. The opening sentence places the story in western New York State, and a full-page afterword cites the author's research on samplers, though it doesn't explain the white caps the girls wear in the pictures. Julie Cummins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374300046
• ISBN-13: 978-0374300043
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #944,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars samplers and needlework, good historical story, September 1, 2007

By 

Cheryl Thurber "hfofstuff, historian" (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Abbie in Stitches (Hardcover)

My 5 year old granddaughter and I saw this in a museum gift show. There was a sampler exhibit at the museum, and while I looked at the details she compared the ages, and was impressed by the work of the girls who were close to her in age. This could have had a bit more on how the stitching was done, and the layout and composition of samplers. While a rebellious girl appeals to our own time, some of that was unrealistic for the period. On the whole however, this was good history for young girls. We checked out the book from the library and I am now looking to get her a copy.