A review by car_car22
The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

3.0

A girl is telling the story about her great grandma Anna. She wore the same clothes that she wore as a farmer in Russia, but in the United States that was not her profession anymore. When she went to school English sounded strange, but in 6 months she learned the language and even had to speak it for her parents. The only things she had from Russia was her dress and hat. When she became too big for the dress, her mother and the ladies from the neighborhood made a quilt from all of the clothing from Russia. When Anna grew up she fell in love and her husband to be gave her tokens like salt and gold to symbolize different aspects of their marriage. When they had a child she was wrapped in the quilt and was given the same gifts plus bread that Anna had gotten earlier from her husband. This time the quilt was used as the wedding hoopla for Carly's wedding. When she had her daughter Mary-Ella she was wrapped in the same quilt. The quilt was also used to keep Great Grandma Anna warm. When Mary-Ellen got married she used the quilt for her hoopla as well and for her daughter who was born. When the narrator was married she used the quilt for her wedding and to wrap her daughter traci louise in and one day she will do the same at her wedding.

This story was truly beautiful and the star of the story was the quilt. This quilt followed her Great Grandma Anna from Russia and started as a dress and became a quilt to be passed down from generation to generation. In the story the only thing that had color was the quilt, the rest was in black and white. This allowed for emphasis on the quilt and we followed it through its original form as a dress and to the first wedding. We followed it through weddings and births of 5 different generations and the details on the quilt remained the same throughout. The historical accuracy was also there in following an immigrant from Russia early in the development of the United States and describing what these people brought with them from home, nothing. It also showed how she had to learn English and her family had different professions in the new world.