Show Way (Newbery Honor Book) [Hardcover]

Jacqueline Woodson (Author), Hudson Talbott (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Newbery Honor Book

Soonie's great-grandma was just seven years old when she was sold to a big plantation without her ma and pa, and with only some fabric and needles to call her own. She pieced together bright patches with names like North Star and Crossroads, patches with secret meanings made into quilts called Show Ways -- maps for slaves to follow to freedom. When she grew up and had a little girl, she passed on this knowledge. And generations later, Soonie -- who was born free -- taught her own daughter how to sew beautiful quilts to be sold at market and how to read.

From slavery to freedom, through segregation, freedom marches and the fight for literacy, the tradition they called Show Way has been passed down by the women in Jacqueline Woodson's family as a way to remember the past and celebrate the possibilities of the future. Beautifully rendered in Hudson Talbott's luminous art, this moving, lyrical account pays tribute to women whose strength and knowledge illuminate their daughters' lives.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 5–Soonie's great-grandma was only seven when she was sold away from her parents in Virginia and sent to South Carolina. All she had was a piece of muslin from her mother, two needles, and bright red thread. She was raised by Big Mama, who cared for the plantation children and at night whispered stories of freedom. Big Mama taught great-grandma how to sew messages and directions into quilt patterns, a Show Way. The quilt-making tradition is passed down through successive generations of women in the family. Finally, readers meet the narrator, who grew up to become a writer and tell the stories of many people's Show Ways. A poignant trail at the end of the book shows eight generations of women and the author's baby painted against the background of quilt patterns. Show Way is a sophisticated book that introduces readers to the passage of time, family traditions, and the significance of quilts and their patterns in African-American history. The gorgeous, multimedia art includes chalk, watercolors, and muslin. An outstanding tribute, perfectly executed in terms of text, design, and illustration.–Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 3-5. A Show Way is a quilt with secret meanings, and the image works as both history and haunting metaphor in this exquisite picture book. Based on Woodson's own history, the unforgettable story tells of African American women across generations, from slavery and the civil rights movement to the present. The cut-out jacket design is impressive, as is Talbott's mixed-media artwork inside, which extends Woodson's clear poetic narrative with beautiful collages that make use of big triangles, squares, and curves to emphasize portraits and landscapes and show connections and courage. The first double-page spread is of anguished separation when Soonie's great-grandmother is sold "without her ma or pa." Growing up on a plantation in South Carolina, Soonie learns from Big Mama about children "growing up and getting themselves free," and also how to sew quilts with signs that show the way to freedom. Time passes: Soonie's granddaughter, Georgiana, has twin girls who march for freedom in the 1960s. The final glorious spread shows Georgiana's granddaughter, Jacqueline Woodson, laughing at home with her own beloved daughter, Toshi Georgiana, whose picture is embedded in a quilt, connecting her with those who came before. A must for the classroom, this story will move many readers to explore their own family roots; link it to the Booklist interview with Woodson [BKL F 1 05], in which she talks about what she owes to those who came before her. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (September 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399237496
• ISBN-13: 978-0399237492
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jacqueline Woodson's awards include 3 Newbery Honors, a Coretta Scott King Award and 3 Coretta Scott King Honors, 2 National Book Awards, a Margaret A. Edwards Award and an ALAN Award -- both for Lifetime Achievement in YA Literature. She is the author of more than 2 dozen books for children and young adults and lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Show me the way to get out of this world, cause that's where everything is, December 16, 2005

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Show Way (Newbery Honor Book) (Hardcover)

Every time a children's picture book is published with a plot that talks about the slave quilts that would lead the slaves to freedom, some hotshot reviewer takes it upon his or herself to disprove this commonly held "myth". Because American slaves were often illiterate, coded quilts are part of an oral rather than written tradition. But this is not to say that they did not exist at the time and anyone who offers an absolute opinion claiming this to be untrue should be regarded with a great deal of skepticism. I'm saying all of this because I don't want "Show Way" to suffer the same fate as books like Deborah Hopkinson's, "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt". What we have here is a true example of 21st century picture book art. Each edition of "Show Way" is like a little museum piece you can buy and share with your children. It's packed to the gills with historical information and containing a story that follows the course of a single African-American family from slavery to Jacqueline Woodson herself, the author of this book. Fast-moving but also strangely touching, "Show Way" is history condensed and made personal. It's not your typical narrative tale, but that works beautifully when you consider the subject matter and scope of the story being told.

Soonie marks the middle of our tale. In this book we learn about her ancestors, her descendents, and the vast history of American slavery and racism. Beginning with Soonie's great-grandmother, we hear a tale of a girl sold away from her family at the tender age of seven. Clutched to her chest are two needles, muslin, and red thread. It was Soonie's great-grandmother who first learned to sew and she passed on that talent to each of her ancestors. We see Soonie's grandmother also get sold at seven but she uses her gift to sew quilts that guide slaves to freedom in the north. Called a Show Way, such a quilt has landmarks and information hidden within seemingly innocent patterns. Soonie's husband dies before the birth of their child, and Soonie's mother suffers the fact that, "History went and lost her name". Soonie herself lived on a sharecropper's farm and her daughter became a teacher who had twin girls of her own. They, in turn, saw firsthand 1950s racism and segregation and one of them gave birth to our author, Jacqueline Woodson. The thing is, every woman mentioned in this story has been able to sew. They've made quilts and roads out of their patterns. They've led slaves to freedom and created livelihoods for themselves. And it becomes clear that this book is Woodson's own quilt of sorts. And she has passed it on to her own daughter. "Holding tight to little Toshi, I whisper a story that came before her..."

Good story here. A problem I've heard that people have with this book is that you don't spend enough time with each woman in this book. No sooner have you met Soonie's Grandmother than you've suddenly jumped a generation and there's Soonie's unnamed mother. The women can blur together at such a rate and some lament that the book hasn't a steady narration. What they don't seem to realize is that "Show Way" is bigger than a single person's story. This is an epic that has been simplified into a child's picture book. We're looking at the "Roots" of children's literature here, people! This is an oral tale that has been written down at long last. A family's story that we, the readers, are now privileged enough to read for ourselves. Not every picture book is required to follow the same set form.

Then we get to Hudson Talbott's illustrations. When Jenny Allen reviewed, "Show Way" for the New York Times Books review, she said that the pictures were, "too self-consciously `educational' - I'm afraid they are the kind of illustrations parents like but children think look like too much work - and they, along with most of Talbott's other drawings, are just so busy. Also the rendering of the people is too often clumsy and, it must be said, corny". I read this review of "Show Way" with a great deal of interest. Up until Allen's opinion, the only other opinions of this book I'd encountered had come from my scholarly children's literature listserv Child_lit, and scholarly children's literature journals. In the case of the former, librarians from all around the country were raving about "Show Way". It was being mentioned as a potential Caldecott winner (though it seems more of a shoo-in as a Coretta Scott King Award, if you ask me). Publications like School Library Journal and Booklist, shown here on Amazon.com, both gave "Show Way" starred reviews. It was an unwarranted reaction, to say the least.

The illustrations begin the quilt motif slowly and then work it further and further into the pictures. There's an image of the United states with each state a quilted piece. A painful red tear has split the North from the South and in that tear black silhouettes show Soonie's grandfather shot in the back by an approaching slave catcher. It's a beautifully laid out image, and powerful in its clever imagery. A person skimming through the book would miss the singed bullet hole in the piece of muslin that tells this part of the story. Photographs, newspaper illustrations, and signs for runaway slaves are sewn together to form the dark quilt that stands in contrast to the women's bright Show Way designs. This is what they are fighting against. Quilt turns to road and road to the stars of the Milky Way (which, in turn, become guides for runaway slaves). Are there images in here that are "corny"? Well, you've an old woman going to heaven that takes up a corner of a page and shows her walking through a flower-filled field with God-rays of light and honest-to-goodness white doves. I have a pretty low cutesy-reader and under normal circumstances that kind of picture would strike me as "corny" too. But due to the nature of the subject and the fact that it is not the focus of the page, it gets the idea across without becoming preachy. Other "corny" moments? Um... well people seem to look pretty happy when they're getting married. I dunno. The book's fairly heartwarming without sinking into the mire of over-emotional goo. Talbott has a nice balance going on here and it makes for a splendid read. He's not particularly good at bare feet, but I'm hardly going to hold that against him.

If I have an objection to the book, it may be that it suggests that the tale of American racism has run its course. By the end of the story you sort of get the impression that SURPRISE! Racism's completely been obliterated! We know that this is not the case and telling little children that they still have to be aware of it may not be the cheeriest ending to a book like "Show Way". Just the same, Woodson could have hinted or eluded without becoming explicit. Ditto Talbott. So will children like it? I guess that's the real question. The idea that kids don't like "busy" pictures in picture books is just a tad off the mark. I've seen the popularity of Walter Wicks' outrageously popular "I Spy" books, the "Where's Waldo" phenomenon, and the twisted mix of media in Jon Scieszka's works. If there's one thing that draws children's attention, it's bright colorful imagery. In terms of words, "Show Way" combines the language of "More, More, More, Said the Baby" by Vera B. Williams with the weight and beauty of Patricia Polacco's, "Pink and Say". It is obviously not a picture book for those kids who want the silly, the fantastical, and the funny. For children, the real lure of the book (aside from the good use of repetition and the splendid writing) is going to be the pictures. The cut-out on the cover says it all. Diamond patterns repeat over and over in this book until they turn into hexagonals. It's just a remarkable series of images.

When you come right down to it, "Show Way" is impressive beyond belief and a necessary purchase for any library, be it public or personal. The children will not flock to it, no. But read it to them once or twice and the thinkers amongst them will recognize its worth. With a knowledge of quilting that nearly rivals (though not quite) fellow picture book author/artist Faith Ringgold, this is a truly impressive combination of an award winning writer and a superb pull-out-all-the-stocks illustrator. Even if you never buy it, I challenge you to give it a glance.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Distinctive Voice; A Superb Book, May 5, 2007

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Show Way (Newbery Honor Book) (Hardcover)

First, let's get this whole quilt controversy out of the way. I mean, I haven't seen this much controversy since the battles over "The Story of Ping," and "Rainbow Fish." Whether or not slaves's quilts sometimes functioned as signposts along the Underground Railroad is not the point of "Show Way," and it certainly doesn't pretend to answer the question. In a way, agonizing over that issue trivializes even more important issues: Slavery and racism, the strength of family and faith, the function of tradition (both written and oral), the beauty of art and the spoken word. Non-Academics interested in the veracity of "showing the way" quilts might be interested in "Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad," by Joyce Hansen (Author), Gary McGowan (Author), James Ransome, and available here at Amazon.com.

I said that the book transcends the question of the "show way" quilts, and this is clear from the first scene. The little girl (the author's great grandmother's great grandmother!) sold into slavery--and away from her enslaved family--holds "some muslim cloth her ma had given her." The cloth is her only tangible link to her origins. Quilts and cloth and sewing. The great x 4 grandmother lay on one as other slaves shared stories around a campfire, her daugher--also sold away--took part of her mama's blanket, "held it to her face to feel back home..."Sewed so fine, she was making clothes for everyone in the big house and slaves too," maybe...perhaps making herself valuable to the inhumane but omnipotent "owners."

Hudson Talbott, an incredibly gifted artist, shows this scene against fragmented newspapers advertising men and women for sale, and vignettes of slaves whipped, degraded, and hunted. Woodson and Talbott show us how the quilt patches might have contained clues about safe paths to the North. WHIle beautifully drawn, the text labels the patches rather than concretely giving an example of how it worked. FOr me, it's not the veracity of the quilt story, but the clarity with which it's told, and I think the book skips over this a little too quickly: Inquisitive kids may be left with more questions than answers. Funny, though, that for all its brevity (two pages or three) pages, this is what draws the more vociferous complaints here.

That's unfortunate, because the quilt theme goes beyond this. A quilt, after all, is a whole bigger than the sum of its parts, often made collectively, and it function here to "show the way" that preceeded the author, and that will guide her own daughter in the future. Part of that "way" is family and tradition, and Woodson's path was made by ancestors who "jumped broom" (married) and persevered through the CIvil War , sharecropping, and the 20th century fights for civil rights. There's an incredible picture showing a map of the US during the Civil War. The map is drawn as a quilt (the states are the patches), and it's ripped between north and south. Against a crimsom background, a man shoots and kills an esacping slave. On the page where we learn thatWoodson's great grandmother, Sooonie, is born, and on sseveral pages after, Hudson shows a quilt weaving in and out of the story. The quillt--and its strands of history, stop briefly when Talbot draws an all black quilt decorated only with the quotes of those who fought for freedm and civil rights. ("We who believe in freedom cannot rest" --Ella Baker.) Its stark beauty recalls the Vietnam War Memorial in D.C. While I thought the book skipped over Reconstruction and JIm Crowism too quickly and blithely ("And when the day was finally over, wasn't hard to find a thing or two to smile about"), the newspaper and photo background the violence of segregationists suggests all that came before it. THe story concludes with the story of the author (and later, her own daughter, and the long quilt leads right to the young Woodson's bed, and the author remembers her past:

"And when I was seven,
O didn't have to work in a field
or walk in any Freedom lines,
But I still read like Georgiana and wrote like Anne..."

"Show Way" is not an easy book to review, but it is an important book, and an excellent one. It's difficult because Woodson writes a very personal and sometimes painful story that that begins with pre-Civil War slavery. I can try to empathize, but the result is no match for her experience. That's one reason we read books, and why we read them to children. She writes in prose poetry, using a voice reminiscent of an oral history, either contemporary or the voice of someone 50 or 100 years ago. Because of differences in race and culture, it's not my voice, but, as with all good writing, I found the diction and cadence flowing easily after a few reads. Very highly recommended for schools as well as home, the book is stunning.

NOTE: The illustrations are a veritable "quilt" of media: Watercolors, chalk, muslin, denim, work shirts, and bermuda shorts on watercolor paper.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "That child could find beauty in so many things", January 30, 2006

By 

HenderHouse (Libertyville, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Show Way (Newbery Honor Book) (Hardcover)

One of the few picture books included in the Newbery pantheon, SHOW WAY is a lyrical journey through the maternal family tree of author Jacqueline Woodson. Although not written in verse, the text of SHOW WAY has a rhythm that would lend itself to reading aloud. And the story honestly -- but not too graphically -- depicts the tragedies and triumphs of the civil rights struggle of African-Americans. Quilts - or show ways - are the thread tying this story together and, as might be imagined, the illustrations are just as powerful as the text; the words and images are joined together to form a stronger whole. Pair this book with Betsy Hearne's SEVEN BRAVE WOMEN. 2006 Newbery Honor Book.