Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Josefina Story Quilt
Illustrator: Bruce Degen
Fiction
For ages 5 to 7
HarperCollins, 2003 ISBN: 978-0064441292
Faith and her family are going to leave their home and travel to California in a covered wagon. Her parents and brother are busy making preparations for their journey when Faith comes and asks her mother if she can take Josefina. Josefina is Faith’s hen who, now that she cannot lay eggs and is old, is Faith’s much loved pet. Faith’s father explains that they don’t have room in the wagon to take Josefina with them. She is going to have to stay behind.
On leaving day Faith’s mother manages to convince her husband that Josefina, just like her patchwork quilts, is precious and cannot be left behind. One thing Faith’s father makes clear is that Josefina can come, but if she misbehaves “out she goes!”
The family sets off with the wagon train, and as they travel Faith works on making patchwork squares, each one of which will tell a part of their journey’s story. She never imagines that Josefina is going to play an important role in that narrative, and Faith’s father never imagines that the old chicken is going to be a nuisance, and a savior, as they travel west.
In this excellent early reader chapter book, children will find out what it was like to travel west (in the United States) in a wagon in the 1850’s. They will find out how many trials and dangers the travelers faced, and experience the many losses they suffered.
At the back of the book the author provides her readers with further information about wagon trains and quilts. Quilts were made with great care and were treasured by their owners. The quilts of the 1800’s often told the stories of the people who made them, and some of the designs used then are still beloved by quilters today.
