In Unity There Is Strength

     Jacqueline Woodson, who is a friend of my family's,  gave me her picture book Show Way as a gift when we first moved to New York. Reading it affected me deeply, especially when I was younger and didn't know about slavery. I think this book is a great historical story, but that it also has some strong messages to tell children.
     The story is about Jacqueline's female ancestors who lived during slavery and the Civil Rights movement. It has an anecdote for almost every member of her family, starting out with her great-great-great-great-grandmother all the way to her daughter Toshi. An important focus of the story is that all of them knew how to quilt incredible cloths. At first, these cloths were sewn as maps for escape from slavery. They then became more of a cultural tradition, but the original myths remained.
   Jacqueline and Hudson Talbott (the illustrator) used some great craft moves to make their readers feel emotions. Jacqueline repeated the anecdotes of her first two ancestors (the ones mentioned in the book); "When [the person] was seven, she was sold to a plantation... without her ma or pa but with some muslin her ma had given her." This made me feel like there was no end to what was happening, and hopeless that anything good would occur. Hudson Talbott's illustrations were very thought-provoking (and very well-done). He used dark, cool colors and silhouettes when times were troublesome. This gave a forlorn feel to the scenes. He then used bright, warm colors when things were going well for the characters. Flowered patterns helped give a sense of growth and possibility.
     The quilt also had a deep meaning in the story, apart from being a map guiding the slaves to freedom. I think it symbolized unity, and how if we stand together as one we are strong. Quilts are
stitched together of different scraps of cloth, which I found to be particularly meaningful. The scraps represent the people– how we are all different– and the stitches  represent the harmony between them. Jacqueline wanted to teach her readers that people can wield great power if they stand together, which is apparent in the historical facts she provided– the Civil Rights movement, the abolition of slavery. If we want to change something, we have to stand tall as a community to speak out for what we think is right!