Show Way

Book: Woodson, J. (2005). Show Way. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Summary:            The picture book takes the reader through a family’s generations from slavery to modern day America. The connecting theme is the colorful quilt that showed clues to the Underground Railroad and connected life cycle events.            The repetition of language makes it a good reading choice for young learners. The motif of patterns is carried throughout the book and unfolds as historic photos, newspaper clips, famous quotes and illustrated historical posters.

Impression:            The story starts with Soonie’s Great-grandma and travels forward seven generations to baby Toshi. The colorful prized quilt weaves through the pages connecting the generations.

Library Use:             I would use this with elementary students and have the students create a square of a paper quilt. They could make a pattern or depict a picture through shapes. To prepare for this activity, I may pre-cut circles, squares and triangles in all kinds of colors, so that students could just choose the colors and glue them onto a paper square. Upon completion I could attach all the squares together and label it for each class. It would be fun to have a gallery walk of all the classes that completed a paper quilt.