Brumbeau, J. (2000). The Quiltmaker’s Gift. Scholastic.
I came across this book, as well as its sequel The Quiltmaker’s Journey, while perusing picture book selections at a quilt book booth at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival back in February at the Hampton Roads Convention Center on a Saturday with my mom. I really like the message of the story after quickly reading it at the display, and purchased it to share with my class the next week. The kids at this age are into anything the teacher shows enthusiasm for, and since I knew they would like hearing and seeing some photos of kid friendly quilts (such as insects, the historic triangle, extremely intricate geometric patterns, etc.) and having a book to connect in a round about way to my topic would hook them in even more. Although the author is gifted in his writing, I have to say that it is without question that the illustrations absolutely make this book breathtaking. Even my students “OOHED” and “AAHHED” as I showed them pages. I had only wished I had a big book version of it (although I doubt it exist) just to help them appreciate the amazing details. One of my kids reminded his classmates, “Remember guys, this must be one of those books that Ms. Melzer tells us to take back to our seats to look at by ourselves because the pictures are so amazingly detailed! Remember, just like she taught us when we were reading all of those Steven Kellogg books?” (These kids, I’m telling you! They hear everything you say!)
I came across this book, as well as its sequel The Quiltmaker’s Journey, while perusing picture book selections at a quilt book booth at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival back in February at the Hampton Roads Convention Center on a Saturday with my mom. I really like the message of the story after quickly reading it at the display, and purchased it to share with my class the next week. The kids at this age are into anything the teacher shows enthusiasm for, and since I knew they would like hearing and seeing some photos of kid friendly quilts (such as insects, the historic triangle, extremely intricate geometric patterns, etc.) and having a book to connect in a round about way to my topic would hook them in even more. Although the author is gifted in his writing, I have to say that it is without question that the illustrations absolutely make this book breathtaking. Even my students “OOHED” and “AAHHED” as I showed them pages. I had only wished I had a big book version of it (although I doubt it exist) just to help them appreciate the amazing details. One of my kids reminded his classmates, “Remember guys, this must be one of those books that Ms. Melzer tells us to take back to our seats to look at by ourselves because the pictures are so amazingly detailed! Remember, just like she taught us when we were reading all of those Steven Kellogg books?” (These kids, I’m telling you! They hear everything you say!)
The story, with its king and cast of characters, is very much in the voice of a classic fairy tale. The king is greedy, and despite all of his riches and material goods, is never satisfied. (My kids wanted to give this guy a speech about being selfish! They couldn’t believe him! It made them mad! My kids, “the moral police!”) When he discovers that an old woman creates amazing quilts that are true pieces of art, he HAS to have one. However, she only gives them to the homeless and downtrodden at night, and for no amount of money or riches will she give the greedy king one. She welds her weight by telling him that if he wants one, he must give up his things to get the one thing he wants, and when the king realizes that he’s been missing out on the joy he feels when he gives to others, the fire is lit for him to continue with this. It also made him in turn appreciate having to wait and in a sense work for what he wants. I told my students that this book has its own website, and they asked me to put the link on my teacher web page, and so I did. One student came back with a printout from it which listed things that the author advised to look for hidden in the details of the pictures, and we left the printout tucked in the book, so when kids did indeed looked at it on their own at their desktop, they could find those hidden items. A gorgeous book with a powerful message!
The site is:
No comments:
Post a Comment