Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson ISBN: 0-679-87472-0 Publisher: Dragonfly Pub. Date: 10 July, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: --This is a well written and very interesting story--
Comment: I discovered SWEET CLARA AND THE FREEDOM QUILT when I was doing a little research into the Underground Railroad. It has been a long-standing theory that patchwork quilts were used to help the enslaved people to escape by the encoded messages in the quilt patterns. This story is another take-off on that traditional idea.
Clara, a slave girl under the age of twelve, was sent away from her mother to another plantation to work in the fields and pick cotton. She makes friends with Young Jack who sees that she's unhappy and not eating and advises her that she must eat to have the strength to be a field worker. Clara now shares a cabin with an older woman, who is kind to her and though unrelated, is called Aunt Rachel.
Aunt Rachel also sees that Clara may not be strong enough to be a field laborer, and over a period of time teaches Clara the art of sewing. Once she can learn to sew, she can work with Rachel at the Big House. Clara proves to be an apt pupil and eventually becomes a seamstress and goes to work for the mistress of the plantation.
The sewing room is next to the kitchen so that Clara meets a lot of people who move around the countryside. She also hears stories about the Underground Railroad, which is a group of people who help slaves to escape. As Clara listens to the people talking, she begins to question them about the surrounding land and decides to make a map out of sewing scraps. Eventually the quilt map is completed and Clara and Jack are ready to leave the plantation and go north to find the Ohio River, and head for Canada. Since Clara had memorized the quilt map, she left it behind so that others could use it too, and escape to the North.
The illustrations by James Ransome are excellent. The drawings are colorful and the expressions on the faces of the characters are wonderfully presented. My favorite illustration and excerpt takes place when Clara is leaving the plantation, and Aunt Rachel advises, "Before you go, just cover me with your quilt, Sweet Clara," she say, "I'm too old to walk, but not too old to dream. And maybe I can help others follow the quilt to freedom."
This is a wonderful offering by Deborah Hopkinson and James Ransome!
Rating: 4
Summary: Good book for kids to learn about history
Comment: I liked Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson. It is a book about a girl who likes to quilt and make things. I like to make things myself. I think it's important to learn how to make things that means something to you or to people. This book also takes place during a time in America's history when there were slaves. I would have given this 5 stars, but it was too short of a book. If you like books about quilts and history, I also recommend Lucy and the Liberty Quilt by Victoria London. It also is about a girl who likes to sew things with meaning.
Rating: 4
Summary: A tale not often heard
Comment: A small quibble before I sink into utter praise. The cover of this book depicts the aforemention sweet Clara and her sweetheart as they run joyfully through the fields. To freedom. Running joyfully, mind you, away from the slave plantation in broad daylight. I'm not saying that there weren't a couple slaves here and there who felt complete and utter joy as they ran, but this scene is positively idyllic. Shouldn't they be afraid of getting caught? Then again, maybe it's just representing the feeling that accompanies such flight, rather than sticking to the strict facts of the matter.
In any case, I began off point and I'm bound to wander off point unless I pull myself up and mosey on over the actual point. Ahem.
ACTUAL POINT: The book is quite good. You don't see that many stories reflecting the quilts that served as maps to lead slaves to freedom. The story is a realistic one, despite everything I said about the cover. And the people are especially well represented. You like Clara. You want her to find her mother and escape off of the plantation. The illustrations are, in pure James Ransome style, beautiful. I've nothing more to say. It's a book that should belong in every library's collection. Nuff said.
 |
Title: Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter ISBN: 0679819975 Publisher: Dragonfly Pub. Date: 15 January, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
 |
Title: Hidden in Plain View : A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad by Raymond G. Dobard, Jacqueline L. Tobin ISBN: 0385497679 Publisher: Anchor Pub Pub. Date: 18 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson, James E. Ransome ISBN: 0689822278 Publisher: Atheneum Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold ISBN: 0517885433 Publisher: Dragonfly Pub. Date: 12 December, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: The Secret to Freedom by Marcia K. Vaughan, Larry Johnson ISBN: 1584300213 Publisher: Lee & Low Books Pub. Date: 30 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
