The Keeping Quilt - Review

Polacco, Patricia. The Keeping Quilt. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., by special arrangement with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1988.

The Keeping Quilt is the true story of the author's family's heritage in America through a quilt. The story is told in first person and begins with Polacco's great-grandmother arriving in America wearing her favorite babushka. This babushka, along with other family articles of clothing, was turned into a quilt in honor of the family's 'backhome in Russia' that was passed through the generations of the family from mother to daughter to granddaughter and so on.

This is a warm story with positive reflections on Jewish families. It illustrates how the family's culture changed as well as remained the same through the years in America and highlighted many examples of experiences that were shared by many immigrant families. These initially included strong family bonds, the children learning English and being translators for their parents, and the creation of a supportive neighborhood community comprised of people who share cultural beliefs. Polacco's great-grandmother lived in a New York city neighborhood comprised mostly of fellow Jewish families. One tradition that remained in tact through all of the generations was the giving of a gift of gold, a flower, salt, and bread at a wedding or a birth. A tradition which changed, and was noted by the author, was that of who and how weddings were celebrated.

The concerns that I have with this text are primarily with the illustrations. Though craftily done with selective color, I am concerned that they present Jewish people in a stereotypical light. Almost every person has a rather predominantly large nose, including infants. The only exceptions to this occur in the last pages at the wedding ceremonies when it is noted that non-Jewish friends were invited. It could be assumed that these smaller-nosed people are not Jewish and that everyone is based on the rest of the book's illustrations. Other than the illustrations, I did not notice any other factors that could be considered to shed a negative light on Jewish people.

Overall, I feel that this text celebrates a Jewish family and places a positive emphasis on family togetherness and tradition. This text does not seem intent on teaching a lesson about the Jewish holidays or comparing a Jewish family to others in gray light as is often seen in Jewish-American books today. Additionally, I think that this book could be enjoyed by any young reader as well as those a little older and it would be a positive addition to any library.