**Winner of a Newbery Honor!
**
Soonie's great-grandma was just seven years old when she was sold to a
big plantation without her ma and pa, and with only some fabric and
needles to call her own. She pieced together bright patches with names
like North Star and Crossroads, patches with secret meanings made into
quilts called Show Ways -- maps for slaves to follow to freedom. When
she grew up and had a little girl, she passed on this knowledge. And
generations later, Soonie -- who was born free -- taught her own
daughter how to sew beautiful quilts to be sold at market and how to
read.
From slavery to freedom, through segregation, freedom marches and the
fight for literacy, the tradition they called Show Way has been passed
down by the women in Jacqueline Woodson's family as a way to remember
the past and celebrate the possibilities of the future. Beautifully
rendered in Hudson Talbott's luminous art, this moving, lyrical account
pays tribute to women whose strength and knowledge illuminate their
daughters' lives.