The Quilt Story

After a move to a new home, comfort comes from a surprising place. Long ago, a young girl named Abigail put her beloved patchwork quilt in the attic. Generations later, another young girl discovers the quilt and makes it her own, relying on its warmth to help her feel secure in a new home.

The new quilt is finished, and what a quilt it is! Here is a square from the proud owner's baby pajamas, and one from the shirt she wore on her second birthday. There is even a square of the same material from which her mother made her stuffed dog Sally. How can she possibly sleep when there is so much to look at, and remember, and dream about . . . ?

Karla loves her special quilt, Mooshka. But Mooshka is more than just a quilt. Karla's grandmother lovingly pieced Mooshka together using scraps of fabric from members of Karla's family. Each square, or "schnitz," shares a special memory of Karla's ancestors and their lives. Mooshka speaks, comforting Karla at bedtime with whispered stories. When new baby sister Hannah arrives, Karla's routine is disrupted and Mooshka falls silent. Only when Karla shares Mooshka with her sister does the quilt begin to speak again and tell Hannah the treasured stories of her family.

After a move to a new home, comfort comes from a surprising place. Long ago, a young girl named Abigail put her beloved patchwork quilt in the attic. Generations later, another young girl discovers the quilt and makes it her own, relying on its warmth to help her feel secure in a new home.

A pioneer mother lovingly stitches a beautiful quilt which warms and comforts her daughter Abigail; many years later another mother mends and patches it for her little girl.

A pioneer mother lovingly stitches a beautiful quilt which warms and comforts her daughter Abigail; many years later another mother mends and patches it for her little girl.

Twenty years ago Valerie Flournoy and Jerry Pinkney created a warmhearted intergenerational story that became an award-winning perennial. Since then children from all sorts of family situations and configurations continue to be drawn to its portrait of those bonds that create the fabric of family life.

1944. Wartime. A six-year-old boy goes to spend the summer with his grandmother Alida in a small town near the Canadian border. With the men all gone off to fight, the women are left to run the farms. There’s plenty for the boy to do—trying to help with the chores, getting to know the dog, and the horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. But when his cousin Kristina goes into labor, he can’t do a thing. Instead, the house fills with women come to help and to wait, and to work on a quilt together. This is no common, everyday quilt, but one that contains all the stories of the boy’s family. The quilt tells the truth, past and future: of happiness, courage, and pain; of the greatest joy, and the greatest loss. And as they wait, the women share these memorable stories with the boy.