Talbott's rich and evocative illustrations create a visual line like a seam through the story, a path of quilt squares carrying each grandmother through time and through the constellations that guide them and promise a better future. The introduction to each grandmother when she was seven serves as a refrain and gives the young reader an immediate and sympathetic point of reference. These steps taken away from her parents are the first in a long path through the author's ancestry a path of women who through their sewing and quilting can create a 'Show Way,' or map to freedom, a quilted code carrying them through slavery and the civil rights era, along to the present day where the author has learned to use words to create a 'Show Way' to a better day. When Soonie's Great-Grandma was seven, she was sold away from her Ma and Pa with nothing but a piece of muslin, two needles, and thread dyed bright red with berries from the Chokeberry tree. Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Hudson Talbott Then you can settle in and peruse some of the best children's books available. Why not fix yourself some steamy cocoa or ice-cold lemonade in the meantime? Visit The PlanetEsme Plan for the newest book reviews.Īll recommendations are teacher-tested, kid-approved.Ĭlick on images or links in red for further reviews and information. Not-very-oldies and still- very-goodies.recommendations from 1999 to 2005!

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