Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10657 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 56 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5–In this prequel to The Quiltmaker's Gift (Pfeifer-Hamilton, 1999), Brumbeau and de Marcken tell the story of this generous artisan's early life. As a young girl, the protagonist lives the grand life of a wealthy child in a land where poverty is unknown, but she is not happy. One night she slips out of the walled city and finds the world beyond, scarred by poverty and need. She has little with her, but kind strangers help her on her journey, where she finds happiness through giving. When she returns to her walled home, the elders reject her idea to give her wealth to the needy, and she is turned out of the city. She becomes a quiltmaker, and the rest is history. The brightly detailed and realistic watercolor illustrations will give children plenty to pore over, but the plodding story is overwhelmingly didactic and much too sweet to appeal to a wide audience.–Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Hillsboro, OR
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
K-Gr. 3. In this prequel to The Quiltmaker's Gift (1999), a young woman born into great wealth risks banishment to see what lies beyond the walls of her town, encounters poverty and disease, and resolves to help the poor. The theme of out-of-control materialism segues into an exciting quest story, but what really distinguishes this are the vivid, intricately designed watercolors, double-page spreads with insets of varying size that add drama and action to the main story. The inside of the jacket is an elaborate puzzle-poster showing the book's setting and action from a panoramic perspective. The endpapers display and name 34 quilt patterns, presented in full color, many of which (in a different color combination) are set beside the boxed text, serving as clues to the heroine's journey; a pattern called "Twist and Turn," for example, accompanies text describing the girl's struggle through a rat-filled maze. An ambitious, strikingly illustrated moral fable that will give children much to look at; a special treat for quilters, too. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Another Great Quiltmaker Story
Jeff Brumbeau has another potential award winner with The Quiltmaker's Journey. A great story about how the Quiltmaker came to be, he continues the theme of the original book that giving of oneself and caring for others illuminates our lives with love. Gail de Marken's illustrations are, again, timeless and her familiarity with the art of quilting lends authenticity to the quilt blocks dotting the pages of this wonderfult story. The Quiltmaker's Journey will win the hearts of young and old alike and if you happen to be a quilter, too, that just sweetens the deal.

Excellent book
This is a beautifully illustrated and wonderfully well written story of the transformation that occurred in the girl who became the Quiltmaker. This is a prequel to The Quiltmaker's Gift, another outstanding book.

Themes include poverty, greed, generosity, self sacrifice, simplicity, helpfulness, deception, truthfulness, and suffering.

Our 6 year old loves this story.

A Great Book to Share
I have been in the education field for over 20 years. I teach quilting to over 300 students a year in a middle school setting. This is an awesome book to share with all ages. I used it to not only teach the message from the book, but used it to have them look at the mathmatical concepts of the quilt squares. Pictures outstanding, and the story is wonderful.