September Roses - Jeanette Winter

Illustrated by the author

2004 Farrar, Strauss, Giroux

HC/ $14.00

32 pages )book is small: perhaps 5" x 6")

Goodreads rating: 3.87

My rating: 4/I like it more with each reading

Endpapers:The rose motif she's used throughout the book, in black on white

Title Page: a 2 x 2 inch square painted with the motif roses in color

Prologue:  "At 8:50 am September 11, 2001, I looked up from my drawing table and saw in the distance an enormous plume of smoke rising high above and beyond the Empire State Building.  I soon learned that the smoke covering the city came from the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
          After a few days, I went to Union Square - to be closer to the communal outpouring of anguish in the city.  I saw the roses, and learned how thy came to be there.  Relying on memory and imagination, I wrote and illustrated September Roses the following spring."

1^st line:  "Far away in South Africa, he said, across the ocean, over mountains, beyond the desert, two sisters lived together and grew roses." (Spread over three pages with four illustrations)

My comments:  This is a lovely book that memorializes this terrible occurrence with a connected story.  I now use it in my classroom each year, but fourth graders now, 13 years later, don't yet know much about this day.  So I have to talk to them about what happened before I share the book  I keep it simple.  After reading the book we talk about gratitude.  Nine year olds have enough time in the future to talk about the nitty gritties of the day as well as the repurcussions, but I've found this gentle, simple book is a really nice way to talk about this day with my kids.
I wrote a review last year, BEFORE sharing the book with my class.  It's a bit different.....Read it here.

(I wrote this last year):  This is a simple book, based on a true story that took place on 9/11. I'm going to share it in school with the kids today - kids that were born three years after that fateful day. It's been 12 years. It was a day that not only affected American greatly, but changed the way that we live and think each and every day. That said, the book itself doesn't flow smoothly enough for me. The words and illustrations are wonderful, but seem somewhat disjointed..... I'll see what my fourth graders think.

Goodreads: A tribute to the memory of September 11
          On September 11, 2001, two sisters from South Africa are flying to New York City with 2,400 roses to be displayed at a flower show. As their plane approaches the airport, a cloud of black smoke billows over the Manhattan skyline. When they land, they learn of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. All flights are canceled; the sisters cannot go home, and they are stranded with boxes and boxes of roses.
          In the days that followed September 11, Jeanette Winter was drawn to Union Square and saw, among the hundreds of memorial offerings, twin towers made of roses. In the pages of this small and vibrant book, she tells a moving story.

55. Peter Pan Must Die - John Verdon

#4 David Gurney

2014 Crown Publishers

442 pgs.

Adult murder mystery

Finished 9/5/2014

Goodreads rating: 3.90

My rating:  4.5 Loved it

TPPL

Comtemporary upstate New York

  

1st sentence/s: (from prologue)  "There was a time when he dreamt of being the head of  a great nation.  A nuclear power."
(from Ch. 1) "In the rural Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, August was an unstable month, lurching back and forth between the bright glories of July and the gray squalls of the long winter to come."

My comments:  Ah, yes, another satisfying John Verdon mystery.  I love his intricate plotlines and the way you really do need to keep guessing the whole way.  I'm still unhappy with the relationship between Gurney and his wife, Madeleine.  It's not like any relationship I can relate to.....and I guess it's because I don't really like her.....at all!  I realized it's not a major part of the story, but it is a large minor part (ah, semantics!).  This creepy killer reminds me of some of the characters that M. E. Kerr has written about in her fabulous YA stories a few years back - not at all "normal" or "average" in appearance.  Which keeps me thinking about the evil in this guy - how much does odd appearance mold our personality?

Goodreads book summary: In John Verdon’s most sensationally twisty novel yet, ingenious puzzle solver Dave Gurney brings his analytical brilliance to a shocking murder that couldn’t have been committed the way the police say it was.
          The daunting task that confronts Gurney, once the NYPD’s top homicide cop: determining the guilt or innocence of a woman already convicted of shooting her charismatic politician husband -- who was felled by a rifle bullet to the brain while delivering the eulogy at his own mother’s funeral. 
          Peeling back the layers, Gurney quickly finds himself waging a dangerous battle of wits with a thoroughly corrupt investigator, a disturbingly cordial mob boss, a gorgeous young temptress, and a bizarre assassin whose child-like appearance has earned him the nickname Peter Pan.
          Startling twists and turns occur in rapid-fire sequence, and soon Gurney is locked inside one of the darkest cases of his career – one in which multiple murders are merely the deceptive surface under which rests a scaffolding of pure evil. Beneath the tangle of poisonous lies, Gurney discovers that the truth is more shocking than anyone had imagined.          And the identity of the villain at the mystery’s center turns out to be the biggest shock of all

MOVIE - Blended

PG-13 (1:31)
Wide release 5/23/2014
Viewed last week of August, 2014 at cheap theater
RT Critic:  14   Audience:  66
cag: 3 As ridiculous as it was, I liked it
Directed by Frank Coraci
Warner Brothers Studio

Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore

My thoughts:  I knew exactly what this movie was going to be - stupid and silly and funny and mostly pointless.  It was all of that.  But it was Adam Sandler and it was funny, yup, stupidly clever all over the place.  It was a waste of time and it was just what I needed.  Both.

RT Summary:  After a disastrous blind date, single parents Lauren and Jim agree on only one thing: they never want to see each other again. But when they each sign up separately for a fabulous family vacation with their kids, they are all stuck sharing a suite at a luxurious African safari resort for a week in "Blended," the third comedy collaboration between stars Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

MOVIE - Hundred-Foot Journey

PG (2:02)

Wide release 8/8/14

Viewed 8/31/2014 at the Ahwatukee 24 in Phoenix (comfiest seats ever!)

RT Critic: 65  Audience: 85

Cag: 4 Liked it a lot

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom

Walt Disney Pictures

Helen Mirren

My comments:  Cute, fun, a taste of India, and a happy ending.  What's not to like?

RT Review:  In "The Hundred-Foot Journey," Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is a culinary ingénue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, the Kadam family, led by Papa (Om Puri), settles in the quaint village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in the south of France. Filled with charm, it is both picturesque and elegant - the ideal place to settle down and open an Indian restaurant, the Maison Mumbai. That is, until the chilly chef proprietress of Le Saule Pleureur, a Michelin starred, classical French restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Academy Award (R)-winner Helen Mirren), gets wind of it. Her icy protests against the new Indian restaurant a hundred feet from her own, escalate to all out war between the two establishments - until Hassan's passion for French haute cuisine and for Mme. Mallory's enchanting sous chef, Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), combine with his mysteriously delicious talent to weave magic between their two cultures and imbue Saint-Antonin with the flavors of life that even Mme. Mallory cannot ignore. At first Mme. Mallory's culinary rival, she eventually recognizes Hassan's gift as a chef and takes him under her wing. 

54. Never Coming Back - Tim Weaver

#4 David Raker

2013 Viking Penguin

374 pgs.

Adult Murder Mystery

Finished 9/2/2014

Goodreads rating:

My rating:    (5) Awesome - a terrific read that I stayed up LATE to read....

Acquired TPPL

Contemporary  Las Vegas and Dorset, England (on the coast)

1st sentence/s:  "When the night came, it came fast.  The sky yellowed, like a week-old bruise, and then the sun began its descent into the desert floor, dropping out of the clouds as if it were falling.  The further it fell, the quicker the sky changed, until the sun was gone from view and all that remained was a smear of red cloud, like a bloodstain above the Mohave."

My comments:  Hot damn, this was GOOD!  A twisty-turny plot, two great settings (Las Vegas and the coast of England0, an ultra-interesting protagonist, lots of clues and hints to ponder, and a couple of surprises.  A perfect book that I devoured in just three days!  Although this was the fourth in a series and I had never heard of David Raker, it was pretty easy to pick up on.  Of course there are always questions, especially about Raker's relationship with the dark-and-doomed Healy....but that means more to look forward to figuring out in the future.  The fifth book in the series was just published two weeks ago, but I'm not sure if it's yet available in the U.S. Tim Weaver is a great new find for me!

Goodreads book summary: A bestseller in the UK, this gripping thriller of a family that vanishes into thin air is Tim Weaver’s American debut

           Emily Kane arrives at her sister Carrie’s house to find the front door unlocked, dinner on the table, and the family nowhere to be found—Carrie, her husband, and two daughters have disappeared. When the police turn up no leads, Emily turns to her former boyfriend David Raker, a missing persons investigator, to track the family down. As Raker pursues the case, he discovers evidence of a sinister cover-up, decades in the making and with a long trail of bodies behind it.
           Tim Weaver’s thrillers have been hugely popular in the UK, and now Never Coming Back will introduce his beloved character David Raker to American audiences. Set in Las Vegas and a small fishing village in England, the novel is a smart, fast-paced thriller sure to keep readers guessing until the very end.

53. Scarlet - Marissa Meyer

#2 The Lunar Chronicles

Audio read by Rebecca Soler

9 unabridged cds

2013 Macmillan Audiobook

452 pgs.

YA Dystopia/Fantasy/SciFi

Finished 8/26/14

Goodreads rating:  4.31

My rating:  4.5 (It was really good)

Acquired TPPL

France and in orbit above earth - in the near future

My comments:  I think I might have liked this second book in the series better than the first.  I love the way that Ms. Meyer weaves in fairy tale characteristics both subtly and not-so-subtly.  I'm so glad that Scarlet figured Wolf out right away and didn't keep throwing his wickedness back at him. And we all know what happened to Granny when she encountered the big bad wolf, but I sure would have liked to hear just a little more of her story.  Lastly, I've got to say that I love the character of Iko (I've only listened to this on audio, so I don't know the spelling), who is the little robot character that has now become the mind of the spaceship.  Looking forward to the next installment in the series!

Goodreads book summary:  Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

MOVIE - The Giver

PG-13 (1:40)
Wide Release 8/15/14
Viewed at El Con with Sheila 8/17/14
RT Critic: 32   Audience: 68
cag: 4.5/Liked it a whole lot
Directed by Philip Noyce
The Weinstein Company]
from the book by Lois Lowry

Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Brenton Thwaites, Alexander Skarsgard

My thoughts:  If you're the kind of person that gets upset because there are a lot of changes from the book, you're probably going to be a bit disappointed in this movie.  There were definitely changes, but they all worked.  In the previews I couldn't help be sneer a little because it seems that they had added some sort of love interest for Jonas.  Considering the direction they took with the ending, it all worked perfectly.  Good movie.  Excellent, actually.  And I love the different actors that played the different parts.  The only questions I have, the only problem with it as I left the theater, was that the Meryl Streep character also seemed to have all the memories.  My problem was not that she had them, that no reference had been made to this fact.
          When the movie was over, a young couple sitting behind us made the comment that it was a little slow in places.  There was no slowness for me.  Granted, I've read the book seven or eight times at least so it was interesting to see all the wonderful changes and additions.  The story is certainly no supposed to be action-filled.  It is nothing like Hunger Games or Divergent.  The giver is the predecessor to all the current dystopian stories.  And I love and admire it as such.
          I've heard that Lois Lowry is quite satisfied with the end product.  If she is, so am I!

RT Summary:  The haunting story of THE GIVER centers on Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Yet as he begins to spend time with The Giver (Jeff Bridges), who is the sole keeper of all the community's memories, Jonas quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of his community's secret past. With this newfound power of knowledge, he realizes that the stakes are higher than imagined - a matter of life and death for himself and those he loves most. At extreme odds, Jonas knows that he must escape their world to protect them all - a challenge that no one has ever succeeded at before. THE GIVER is based on Lois Lowry's beloved young adult novel of the same name, which was the winner the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. 

Knitting Yarns - edited by Ann Hood

Writers on Knitting
Yee Ha!  I'm reading nonfiction!
This ones Dewey Decimal number is 746.432K749
I borrowed it from TPPL
294 pgs.
2014 WW Norton & Company
Goodreads rating:  3.73
My rating:

(I've decided to add this book to my blog, even though I'm in the midst of reading it.  I'll do this for any/all short story/essay collections, or I'll never get some of them posted!)

Intro by Ann Hood, the editor (5 pgs.)
She began knitting in 2002 to help lessen the grief she bore after losing her 5-year-old daughter to a strep virus.She drives 40 miles from Providence once a week to Sakonett Purls in Tiverton, RI.

The Pretend Knitter by Elizabeth Berg (6 pgs.)
"Can someone who loves everything about knitting -- the yarn, the tools of the trade, the knitted projects -- actually learn to knit?"
     Elizabeth Berg loves to knit; she loves all the physical and "spiritual" things that go along with it. She tells of knitting a long, long, l o n g garter stitch scarf for her college roommate.  She thought if she made it longer, the dropped stitches wouldn't be so noticeable!

The Perfect Gift by Lan Samantha Chang (7 pgs.)
"Is it possible that we need and like to knit so badly that we don't really care if the recipients of our knitted goods find them aesthetically pleasing or even bearable?"
     Lan Samantha Chang compares knitting a gift to preparing a meal...and then discovering, after everyone sits down with great anticipation to enjoy it, that it doesn't taste very good...at all.  She tells of people giving gifts to her mother, who frequently didn't like or care for them and put them aside, never to look at again.  And she tells of the one perfect sweater that she spent forever knitting, ripping, reknitting, that her mother absolutely loved.

Blood, Root, Knit, Purl by Andre Dubus III (12 pgs.)
"Knitting becomes an unexpected avenue to a Christmas gift for his aunt, and a way to knit his relationship with his young, rich girlfriend"
     What lovely writing!  Andre Dubus tells of his upbringing, living with his divorced mother and three siblings in Massachusetts and New Hampshire  mill towns in the 70's.  And he tells of the re-connection with his mother's family in Louisiana.  He tells of the somewhat strained relationship he has with his then-girlfriend in their tiny (8 x 13 - truly?) NYC apartment/room and how she taught him to knit so he could make a scarf for his aunt for Christmas.  Super memoir.

52. Frozen - Erin Bowman

#2 in the TAKEN series

2014 Harper Teen

362 pgs.

YA Dystopian Fantasy

Finished 8/22/2014

Goodreads rating:  3.97

My rating:  3-I liked it, much of the time.

Acquired TPPL

Setting" Dystopian future somewhere on earth

1st sentence/s:  "We have been walking for two weeks.  Nothing tails us but snow and crows and dark shadows of doubt.  The days grow shorter, the evenings frigid.  I  I thought I'd be able to handle the cold. I was wrong."

My comments:   The first half of this book seemed agonizingly slow, but the second half was not - I couldn't put it down.  I've read so many books between Taken and Frozen that I couldn't remember some of the relationships between main and not-so-main characters.  There were hints throughout the book, though, so that by the end I pretty much remembered everything that needed to be remembered.  I can pretty much lay out the plotline in the next in the series....lots about "Forgeries," particularly Gray's; more of bad, bad Frank; the real Emma will reappear, and by the end of the book Bree and Gray will finally be "together."

Goodreads book summary:  Gray Weathersby escaped from the primitive town of Claysoot expecting to find answers, but what he discovered shook him to the core: A ruthless dictator with absolute power. An army of young soldiers blinded by lies. And a growing rebellion determined to fight back.
          Now Gray has joined a team of rebels on a harsh, icy journey in search of allies who can help them set things right. But in a world built on lies, Gray must constantly question whether any ally—or enemy—is truly what they seem

MOVIE - What If

PG-13 (1:42)
Limited release 8/8/2014
Viewed Mid-August 2014
RT Critic:  70   Audience:   79
cag: 5/Loved It
Directed by Michael Dowse
CBS Films

Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan

My thoughts:   I think I might have a new favorite movie.  I was afraid I'd spend the whole movie thinking of wide-eyed Harry Potter as the protagonist, but I didn't think of Harry once. This is an absolutely delightful love story that, as you watch, are sure will have a happy ending. Everyone needs a totally, 100% feel-good movie once in awhile.  Radcliffe and Kazan were a blast to watch.  I loved it!

RT Summary:  WHAT IF is the story of medical school dropout Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe), who's been repeatedly burned by bad relationships. So while everyone around him, including his roommate Allan (Adam Driver) seems to be finding the perfect partner (Mackenzie Davis), Wallace decides to put his love life on hold. It is then that he meets Chantry (Zoe Kazan) an animator who lives with her longtime boyfriend Ben (Rafe Spall). Wallace and Chantry form an instant connection, striking up a close friendship. Still, there is no denying the chemistry between them, leading the pair to wonder, what if the love of your life is actually your best friend?

51. The Art Forger - B. A. Shapiro

2012, Algonquin Books

355 pgs.

Adult mystery

Finished 8/13/2014

Goodreads rating:  3.67

My rating:    4 - Loved it

Acquired TPPL, Recommended by Fran

Contemporary BOSTON!

1st sentence/s: "I step back and scrutinize the paintings.  There are eleven, although I have hundreds, maybe thousands.  My plan is to show him only pieces from my window series.  Or not.  I pull my cell from my pocket, check the time.  I can still change my mind."

My comments:  I haven't read late into the night to see what was going to happen in a book in ages. This was an interesting book on many levels.  It was a clever mystery (at the end, the reader had some facts about some of the "whys" that even the protagonist did not have).  It was about art ... and artists ... and the art world ... which all seem totally fascinating to me.  It was based on a real-life art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum that i have followed for the last 20+ years.  The protagonist has many flaws, which makes her seem real.  She is sneaky and also brutally honest.  She is driven.  I also got to learn a lot about Edgar Degas in a really interesting way.  I only think of his ballet paintings when I hear his name, so now I want to look at much more.

Goodreads book summary:  On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art today worth over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there’s more to this crime than meets the eye.

Making a living reproducing famous artworks for a popular online retailer and desperate to improve her situation, Claire is lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting—a Degas masterpiece stolen from the Gardner Museum—in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But when that very same long-missing Degas painting is delivered to Claire’s studio, she begins to suspect that it may itself be a forgery.

Her desperate search for the truth leads Claire into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since the late nineteenth century may be the only evidence that can now save her life.

MOVIE - A Million Ways to Die in the West

R (1:56)
Wide release 5/30/2014
Century Gateway on Kolb, Sunday night (7:40 show! How decadent!) 8-10-14
RT Critic:  33   Audience:  43
cag: 1.5 - Mostly NOPE
Directed by Seth MacFarlane
Universal Pictures

Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris, Amanda Siefried, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman

My thoughts:  There were some funny, silly places, but all-in-all this movie was mainly a colossal waste-of-time. I don't mind x-rated kind of stuff - I'm even know to enjoy it - but the sheer crudeness of many of the "jokes" were definitely unneeded.  There was one set of scenes, out in the desert with Cochise and a band of his men, that was particularly well done, funny, and worthwhile. I went because of this incredible list of good actors. I can't believe that this movie is STILL in the cheap theaters, and at almost 8 o'clock on a Sunday night there were at least three dozen people in the theater watching it....

RT Summary:  Seth MacFarlane directs, produces, co-writes and plays the role of the cowardly sheep farmer Albert in A Million Ways to Die in the West. After Albert backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man. When a mysterious and beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage and they begin to fall in love. But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test. 

50. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell - Nadia Hashimi

2014 William Morrow / Harper Collins
452 pgs.
Adult Realistic Fiction - switches between contemporary and historical/100 years ago
Finished Sat. 8/8/14
Goodreads rating:  4.28
My rating:   4.5 This was an outstanding book
TPPL
Setting: a village in Afghanistan, includes peeks at Kabul during both time periods depicted (1900 and 2007)

1st sentence/s: "Shahla stood by our front door, the bright green metal rusting on the edges.  She craned her neck. Parwin and I rounded the corner  and saw the relief in her eyes.  We couldn't be late again."

My comments:  I have to think really hard about rating this book.  I keep thinking about the last words I read in it, in the acknowledgement section by the author.  She says, "A special acknowledgement to all the daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, and teachers of Afghanistan...."  However, other than the protagonists (and Rahima's immediate family), with only a few exceptions, the women depicted in the novel are hateful, vengeful, and mean. This includes mothers-in-law, grandmothers, sisters-in-law, and other wives who are also daughters, mothers, and aunts.

The story is about two different women, one living at the beginning of the 20th century, the other more contemporary, living at the beginning of the 21st.  Related by blood, both get the opportunity to "shed" their female personna for part of their lives and live a bit more freely as a male.  They both become wives and mothers, but not in the way most American women might think of becoming a wife and mother. The chapters alternate and it is not at all difficult to keep the stories or the people in each story separate.

The images left in my mind after reading this book will stay with me. I couldn't put this book down. I realize that Afghanistan's reality is incredibly different from mine, and this novel gave me added perspective.  So many questions are left, particularly about religion and the heavyhandedness some apply to the "rules" that go along with that religion....

Goodreads book summary:  Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi's literary debut novel, The Pearl that Broke Its Shell is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.

In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. As a son, she can attend school, go to the market, and chaperone her older sisters.

But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-aunt, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way.

Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl the Broke Its Shell interweaves the tales of these two women separated by a century who share similar destinies. But what will happen once Rahima is of marriageable age? Will Shekiba always live as a man? And if Rahima cannot adapt to life as a bride, how will she survive?

PICTURE BOOK - The Shabbat Puppy - Leslie Kimmelman

Illustrated by Jaime  Zollars
A PJ Library Selection

2012 Marshall Cavendish Children

HC $17.99

32pages

Goodreads rating:

My rating: 3.5

Endpapers: a solid light blue

With dedications, explanation for two of the important, commonly used words:  "In Hebrew, shalom has three meanings:  hello, good-bye, and peace.  Mazel (rhymes with "nozzle") means luck."

Illustrations "rendered in graphite and digital paint."

1^st line:  "Every Saturday morning, Noah and Grampa take a Shabbat walk. 
       'It's the best time,' Grampa explains, 'to find Shabbat Shalom, some Sabbath peace."

My comments:  Since I try to remember to say, "Shabbat shalom" to parents and kids each Friday as they leave school (a Hebrew day school), this book is a nice reminder to me of its true meaning.

Goodreads:  Every Saturday morning Noah and Grampa take a walk, looking for "Shabbat shalom"--Sabbath peace--but Grampa will not let Noah's noisy puppy Mazel come along.

Books About Quilts and Quilting

Picture Books
Belle, the Last Mule at Gee's Bend (Ramsey & Stroud/Holyfield)
Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom (Stroud/Bennett)
Stitchin' and Pullin' a Gee's Bend Quilt (McKissack/Cabrara)
Stormy Weather (Gliori)
Tsunami Quilt, The (Fredericks/Yee)

Novels - Adult
Prayers for Sale (Dallas)

Novels - YA

Novels - Middle Grades
Leaving Gee's Bend (Latham)

NonFiction