MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, grandmother and granddaughter, aunt and niece, friend and friend. For a hundred years, generations of women from Gee’s Bend have quilted together, sharing stories, trading recipes, singing hymns—all the while stitchin’ and pullin’ thread through cloth. Every day Baby Girl listens, watches, and waits, until she’s called to sit at the quilting frame. Piece by piece, she puzzles her quilt together—telling not just her story, but the story of her family, the story of Gee’s Bend, and the story of her ancestors’ struggle for freedom.
Stitchin' and Pullin': A Gee's Bend Quilt (Picture Book)
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 1–5—The rural Alabama community of Gee's Bend is widely recognized for its unique quilts. Although the women have been quilting for over a century, their work was unknown until art historian William Arnett discovered it about 20 years ago. Stitchin' and Pullin' is the modern-day story of Baby Girl, who grows from a child playing beneath her elders' quilting frame to becoming a member of the intergenerational circle, piecing together her first quilt. McKissack's free-verse narrative shares the rich heritage of the Gee's Bend artisans as Baby Girl selects the fabrics that have significance to her and her family and finds the "heart" of her quilt. She speaks about the meaning of colors and patterns and what they bring to a quilt. The story is full of love and spirit. Cabrera's acrylic paintings depict the richness of tradition and strength of character as connections are made between fabric and history. Readers will enjoy the slow cadence of verse as they pause to consider history through the eyes of the people who lived it and the legacy that is passed on to the next generation.—Lisa Glasscock, Columbine Public Library, Littleton, CO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In stirring free verse, a young African American girl in rural Gee’s Bend, Alabama, describes how she learns from her “mama, grandma, and great-gran” to quilt, “using the old way— / all by hand / nothing wasted.” As she plans her first project, she remembers her mama saying, “Cloth has memory,” and she chooses swatches from loved ones’ clothing: the corduroy pants her uncle wore to vote for the first time; the dark blue work shirt that reminds her of “how hard Daddy has worked.” She also sweeps through African American history and finds ways to honor her heroes: “I sew / a spotless white patch for / the hope Dr. Martin Luther King / brought.” Cabrera is a quilter, and her folk-art paintings shine best in the dynamic re-creations of the beautiful fabric patterns, which have been exhibited in museums around the world. Both words and images glow with the love, creativity, and strength that are shared among the generations, and an author’s note and an introduction by an art historian fill in more specifics about the rare community and its rich tradition. Grades 3-5. --Gillian Engberg
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A young girl in Gee's Bend, Alabama makes her first Quilt of Gee's Bend quilt. From picking out the cloth for memories, to using all of every scrap, to puzzling the picture, to telling a story, to feeling the colors and painting a poem with fabric, this quilt is a story of determination, courage, strength, emotion and family. As the young girl says when she completes her first quilt, "Quilts are about me, where I live, and the people who have been here for generations." Children ages 5-8 will appreciate this book about Gee's Bend and its now-famous tradition of quilting.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a beautiful book about young girl who learns to quilt and the importance of the work to her family and community!
October 20, 2009
Format:Hardcover
Gee's Bend was one of those old time, out of the way places that no one had ever heard of except maybe the people who lived there. A long, long time ago it was a place where there were plantations. The white slave owners ruled the roost so to speak, but after the Civil War the slaves became tenant farmers and later became proud owners of the land. It was a place where things didn't change much, including the way quilts were made. It was a community that remained hidden away, unchanged until rediscovered more than a hundred years later.
Little girls often were out of sight, quietly listening, underneath the quilting frame while their elders worked. Baby Girl remembered "the warm brown faces of [her] mama, grandma, and great-gran as they sewed, talked, sang, and laughed" above her. All the quilts had memories. Her Mama told her that "cloth has a memory." The quilts were pieced together from the clothing of family members. The day soon came when Baby Girl would be ready to make her own quilt. To the women of Gee's Bend this was a rite of passage. Baby Girl's cousin Ashlyn, from New York thought that was too country and nonsensical, but Baby Girl knew differently. Many of the town's quilts became museum pieces, but hers was one that she would lovingly create and use.
This is a beautiful creative nonfiction story of a young girl who learns to quilt and the importance of the work to her family and community. The story is interspersed with dollops of history about Gee's Bend and our country's black leadership passed down by Baby Girl's elders. It's a wonderful book to read about the heritage of our country and its traditions and discuss your family history with your own child!
Little girls often were out of sight, quietly listening, underneath the quilting frame while their elders worked. Baby Girl remembered "the warm brown faces of [her] mama, grandma, and great-gran as they sewed, talked, sang, and laughed" above her. All the quilts had memories. Her Mama told her that "cloth has a memory." The quilts were pieced together from the clothing of family members. The day soon came when Baby Girl would be ready to make her own quilt. To the women of Gee's Bend this was a rite of passage. Baby Girl's cousin Ashlyn, from New York thought that was too country and nonsensical, but Baby Girl knew differently. Many of the town's quilts became museum pieces, but hers was one that she would lovingly create and use.
This is a beautiful creative nonfiction story of a young girl who learns to quilt and the importance of the work to her family and community. The story is interspersed with dollops of history about Gee's Bend and our country's black leadership passed down by Baby Girl's elders. It's a wonderful book to read about the heritage of our country and its traditions and discuss your family history with your own child!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By sewtrue
Format:Hardcover
As a quilter and sewing instructor, I look for books that will capture children's interest in sewing. I have a special interest in the quilts of Gee's Bend, and this book was just as interesting for me to read as it was for the children. younger kids are captivated by the colorful illustrations, and older kids can follow the story and learn some of the history of the quiltmakers' community and families. I highly recommend this book to those who want to share their love of sewing and quilting with younger generations.
