Stitchin' and Pullin': A Gee's Bend Quilt by Patricia C. McKissack

Stitchin' and Pullin': A Gee's Bend Quilt Reviews

• 
  Melki

  Quilting is painting a poem with fabric.
  
  
  
  In my world, quilts are pretty much a decorative item. You see a pattern in a magazine, you buy the fabric at a store, and, well, as my husband describes it . . . you get large sheets of fabric, cut them up, and sew them together to make a large sheet of fabric. Yeah, okay, that's kind of snarky, but basically true.
  
  But, for the residents of Gee's Bend, a rural community in Alabama, quilting is a way to connect the generations, teach heritage, and strengthen the community.
  
  Early quilts were made from materials at hand: old jeans, work clothes, and dress tails (the back of a dress which sees the least wear and tear.) Originally, quilting was the evening activity or chore of the women, which, in addition to creating covers fro warmth, also gave them a platform for storytelling, communicating, and singing the songs their mothers sang. Quilting reinforced the ties between generations - from mother to daughter and beyond.*
  
  Imagine making a quilt where each patch reminds you of a special person, or a momentous event.
  
  Mama told me,
  "Cloth has memory."
  
  I hope
  the black corduroy remembers
  that it was once the pants . . .
  my uncle wore to go vote for the first time,
  all clean and new.**
  
  In this wonderful children's book, we watch as a young girl learns about her history while she makes her first quilt. She is surrounded by the older women in her community, who spin tales, and share gossip as they work.
  
  
  
  Grandma says her quilts tell a story,
  so mine will tell one, too.
  My story.
  
  A strip of green is the fourth border,
  a symbol of the fields where my ancestors
  worked cotton from can to can't -
  can see in the morning until
  can't see at night.***
  
  Though some are quite sad, and hard to read, McKissack's poems are a joy, and
  Cozbi A. Cabrera's paintings are vivid, and exciting. Highly recommended to quilt and history fans of all ages.
  
  
  
  *from the introduction by
  Matt Arnett
  
  ** from Remembering by
  Patricia C. McKissack
  
  ***from The River Island by
  Patricia C. McKissack
• 
  Leslie

  Prolific children's author
  Patricia C. McKissack(1944-2017) traveled to Gee's Bend, in Wilcox County, Alabama in 2004 to learn about its history and take quilting lessons with the women of that community. From her deep research and the time she spent with Mrs. Mary Lee Bendolph, McKissack created this book, Stitchin' and Pullin'.
  
  In 22 pieces written in the voice of a young daughter of the Gee's Bend community when it is her turn to learn from her foremothers, we learn about family geography and history; ethics of creativity, craft, and resourcefulness; fabric; color; the Freedom Quilting Bee; and how the lives of her forebears were impacted by the Civil Rights movement, and struggles for voting rights and equal education.
  
  The text is vibrantly illustrated by
  Cozbi A. Cabrera - a maker of dolls, quilts, and other beautiful things - whose first children's book
  My Hair is a Garden was just published this year.
  
  from Stitchin' and Pullin':
  Stereotypes
  Haven't been able to work on my quilt for two weeks.
  My cousin Ashlyn's been visiting from New York City.
  She left this morning. Yes!
  I will miss her, maybe.
  Ashlyn thinks she is as cool as blue.
  She reminds me of a duck -
  calm on the surface
  but paddling like crazy underneath
  to stay afloat.
  
  The idea of making a quilt
  was way too country for Ashlyn.
  "I'd rather paint or write a poem,"
  she said.
  "Quilting is painting a poem with fabric,"
  I told her.
  Never mind.
  We still did what she wanted to do.
  TV,
  cell phones,
  CD players,
  video games,
  and a laptop computer with internet hookup-
  she was so surprised we have these things.
  I was surprised she thought we didn't."
• 
  Stacy

  We enjoyed this book-- both the poetic history and the illustrations. I had never heard of Gee's Bend, Alabama or their famous quilts, so this book was quite educational for me as well.
• 
  Lisa Vegan

  I saw a Gee’s Bend quilt exhibit at my local museum a few years ago and read an accompanying book:
  The Quilts of Gee's Bend: Masterpieces from a Lost Place,which I now just noticed I’d never marked as owned or read; that’s been rectified. I can’t remember the names of the couple artists whose quilts I most liked, but I loved the exhibit and the art book, and that’s why I wanted to read this picture book for children.
  
  I was completely blown away by this book! I’m so glad I’ve seen so many of the Gee’s Bend’s quilts in person, and had read the stories of some of their creators, but even if I’d never seen any or known about these artists, the story is this book is told so beautifully and the illustrations are so wonderful; I’m sure I’d have loved it almost as much as I do.
  
  How quilt pieces tell a story (I love the one the little girl in this book makes!), the history of the citizens who created the Gee’s Bend quilts, and some general related history, stellar introduction and author’s note at the end. I love quilts even more than I did before. I’d be interested in participating in some sort of quilting circle but I don’t have old fabrics that have sentimental meaning and I suspect I’m too much of a klutz. But, reading about the Gee’s Bend women and girls is heartwarming and fascinating. The poems and their titles are wonderful. This sort of poetry, with its rhythm and cadence doesn’t always do it for me, but here it worked wonderfully. This is a very worthy book with which to introduce children to this tradition. Loved it!
• 
  Krista the Krazy Kataloguer

  This series of poems describes how a young girl, known to her family as Baby Girl, learns how to quilt, and then creates one of her own. In the process, we learn how a quilt is made and how using cloth from old clothes can turn a quilt into a memory-keeper and storyteller as well as something to keep you warm at night. As Baby Girl selects and sews each piece of fabric, she explains why she chose it and what or who it reminds her of. Then family and friends gather round to help her sew on the batting and the backing. I also enjoyed reading Patricia McKissack's author's note at the end, where she talks about how she set out to learn quilting in order to write this book. Near the beginning of the book, in a poem entitled "Who Would Have Thought..." she writes:
  
  For as long as anybody can remember,
  the women of Gee's Bend
  have stitched up quilts--
  to be slept on and under,
  sat on at a picnic,
  wrapped in when sick,
  or covered with while reading
  on a cold winter night.
  
  Who would have thought
  that one day those same quilts
  would be handing on museum walls,
  their makers famous?
  Who would ever have thought?
  
  In age when so much is machine-manufactured, they are, indeed, works of art. Reading this book really gives you a sense of that. Recommended!
• 
  Lucia

  quite simply, LOVELY.
  
  This is considered a J-fiction, but it has lovely pictures on each page and reads wonderfully smooth, like thread sliding through the fabric.
• 
  Phobean

  I did not expect this picture book to tell as complicated a story as artfully as it did, in such an honest, uplifting, and accessible manner. WHERE is this book's award?? I went down a rabbit hole of Wikipedia researching after reading and peppered my friends who are quilters with snippets that I learned. I'm an adult--imagine the richness that Stitchin' and Pullin' will offer to its intended audience!
• 
  Elisabeth Ensor

  A sweet book about the quilters and history of Gee’s bend! I love these quilts so much
• 
  Kathy

  I saw an advertisement for a play about Gee's Bend, Alabama. I had never heard of the play, the town, the people, or their celebrated quilts. So I checked on the internet and at the library and learned more about them. This is a nice little book of poetry and pictures about a little black girl learning about her heritage through quilting.
• 
  Becky

  Great story of poems from a child about the history of quilt making in Gee's Bend. These quilts were made from pieces of fabric from old clothes. The fabric pieces were used to remember personal experiences. These stories would be pasted down from generation to generation. I researched these quilts online. They have exhibits but there are no future exhibits scheduled.
• 
  Talea

  Anyone who has seen the quilts from Gee's Bend knows what a treasure they are. I first learned about them when the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts had a display show casing quilts made in Alabama quite a few years ago now. I've been trying to find a way to share the traditional quilts with my children when I found this book in the library. I highly recommend it.
• 
  Jennifer Mitchell-Shirley

  I quilt. I have read books and articles about Gee's Bend quilts and quilters over the years. This book has history, family, creativity, teaching and learning, growing up, and love included in the story told. So glad I found it.
• 
  Ann Haefele

  I borrowed this book from the library the day after I was fortunate to see a museum exhibit of quilts from Gee's Bend. Memory, passion, the struggle for civil rights, and family love all shine through in this story.
• 
  Susan

  I was really impressed with this book. It had a compelling narrative, was creatively told and beautifully illustrated.
• 
  Dindy

  Just out from Random House and a super book for kids - fun and historical at the same time and the illustrations are gorgeous.
• 
  Shelley

  I work in a children's preschool/after school center. The previous two years I worked in the after school program, this year I switched to 2's. My old boss in after school and I are still close. I also still spend 1-1/4 hours picking up children from two schools every day driving the bus. My old boss asked me if my county library, she lives in a different district, had Stickin' and Pullin' A Gee's Bend Quilt because her libraries didn't. Sure enough mine did, and I ordered it online. It came in a few days later and I handed it over to her. She was working with the after school kids on an activity about quilting. What a perfect book to present to the kids to learn about the past and about quilts!
  
  The author did a super job by breaking down the story into 22 poems narrated by a young daughter of the Gee's Bend. She started attending with her mama when she was a baby, but now she's older, I'm thinking 8? It's her turn to learn to stitch and pull and join the group of mothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers.
  
  Each poem is labeled under a title explaining how the Gee's Bend Women were formed, the types of fabrics used explaining how each piece has a story behind it, how the colours in the fabrics make them feel, how the quilting group were discovered and they started making and selling quilts for others, then forgotten, the hardships of their people, making small progress, while being killed for standing up and fighting for the right to vote and wanting to be treated as equals, being discovered again, but this time not being restricted in how they design their quilts. Their quilts can be found in museums and in other locations. Unfortunately, I have not come across any.
  
  Patricia C. McKissack, the author, was invited to write a book about Gee's Bend quilts after she saw some at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 2004. But for the author to fully understand the art of quilting, she had no prior experience, the Gee's Bend took her under their wing and taught her the art. She soon came to realize it was more than just quilting. It was a time to come together to think things over, work out problems, reflect on self-evaluation, strategize for long term planning and make reflections on the past while enjoying the company of other women who have a passion for designing and making quilts.
  
  I enjoyed the pictures.
  
• 
  Bean

  This beautiful collection of vignettes (written by veteran children's author Patricia C. McKissack and illustrated by the incomparable Cozbi A. Cabrera) describes the lives, work, and art of Gee's Bend quilting artists.
  
  The stories McKissack conveys through her verses are moving. I especially like:
  
  * "Remembering", which begins: "Mam told me, / 'Cloth has a memory'..." and tells the story of each scrap of cloth that transforms the young narrator's first quilt.
  
  * "The Sewing Bee", brought to life by mixed media images. This vignette describes how some Gee's Bend quilters held on to their artistic freedom, despite the necessity of surviving under capitalism.
  
  The only thing I don't like about this book is the introduction by Matt Arnett, the son of a white art collector who (along with Matt and his brother) have been made famous for "discovering" and "sharing" Gee's Bend quilters' art with the world. The Arnetts were named in a lawsuit by three Gee's Bend quilters. According to a 2007 news article by the Chicago Tribune:
  
  "Complainants say the Arnett family, who first brought the Gee's Bend quilts to prominence, have not fairly compensated the artists -- or their descendants -- for quilts that sell for up to $25,000 and the copyrights to duplicate them in books, rugs and other merchandise.
  
  This month, two of the quilters whose works appear in the Walters show, Annie Mae Young and Loretta Pettway, charged in a federal lawsuit that William Arnett, his sons and others defrauded them of potentially thousands of dollars in proceeds from quilt sales and royalties from licensing agreements. In another suit, Lucinda Pettway Franklin charged that in 2005 the Arnetts took two 100-year-old quilts sewn by her great-grandmother, a former slave, and refused to return them despite repeated requests."
• 
  Emily

  “Quilting is painting a poem with fabric.”
  
  As a hobby quilter, I loved this book. What a wonderful way to tell the story of a community and it’s history. A must read for quilters and family members of quilters alike. Highly recommend!
• 
  Heather Bond

  Beautiful children’s book. My kids enjoyed it and it stimulated some really good conversations. Recommended by a friend who homeschooled her son last year and taught him about the slave descendent quilt makers of Gee’s Bend.
• 
  Jennie

  2020 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge #18 - Read a picture book with a human main character from a marginalized community
• 
  Maeve

  A tribute to the women of Gee's Bend who created beautiful and unique quilts. McKissack also tells a brief history of Gee's Bend and the civil rights movement.
• 
  Darlena Glenn

  Exceptional in every way! A must for my 2023-2024 library collection.
• 
  GlitterWater79

  Glorious! Full stop. 💜