Author/Illustrator: Deborah Hopkinson/James Ransome
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: None
Grade Level: 2nd-4th
This book is about a young girl named Clara who was sold into slavery and separated from her mother. She was working in the fields with a young boy named Jack. An older woman who was a seamstress took the role as her aunt. She told her she'd never survive if she didn't take care of herself. Her aunt taught her how to be a seamstress so she would be able to go work in the big house. The white lady in the big house loved her work and invited her to be a seamstress. As Clara worked in the big house she overhear people talking about escaping through the underground railroad. She decided she would too. She saved all the scraps from sewing and over months sewed together a quilt that looked as a map would all the way to Canada, Freedom. Once finished her and Jack set out to escape, they picked up her mother along the way and made it to freedom.
This book is great for upper elementary students because the structure is suitable for them. I would use this book in my class when covering a social studies topic of the underground railroad. I could have students draw their own map of the quilt.
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