The Keeping Quilt, By Patricia Polacco

Patricia Polacco is a beloved American children’s author and illustrator. Though she lives with Dyslexia, she graduated high school and continued on to earn a Master’s on Fine Arts in painting and a Ph.D. in Russian and Greek iconographic history (Do I cite this? Common knowledge? Contemporary Author’s Online). She did not actually begin her writing career until she was 41 years old. Thirty years later, she now has had fifty-five children’s books published, all from a variety of topics. Nonetheless, she is often noted for her construction of family as a theme in many of her books. [Develop this paragraph more]
[Where she gets story ideas] Many of her stories stem from her imagination; however, because Polacco comes from a long line of storytellers …show more content…
Anna and her family decide to use the materials from the dress and babushka, along with a piece of clothing from all of their loved ones in Russia to make a quilt. Anna and the three generations to follow, use this quilt for all sorts of life’s adventures. The illustrations in the book, continue to signify Anna, Polacco’s great-grandmother. Throughout the book, the illustrations are done in pencil and stay in black and white; however, Polacco keeps Anna’s babushka and then the quilt in color for the rest of the book. She wants her audience to really keep their eyes one the key element that became so important to her family. The Keeping Quilt displays the evidence of the role that faith, hope and family play together. Contemporary Authors Online explains, “Polacco … pours energy into retaining strong ties to her Russian heritage.” The author continues to say that “ … as a popular writer and artist, [she] is lauded for transforming childhood memories, favorite episodes from family history, and elements from her Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, and Irish heritage into books…”
[Family gatherings to celebrate] When Lightning Comes from a Jar, is a book about a time when Trisha’s family comes to her house on the family farm during a warm summer evening in Michigan for a reunion. The evening consisted of food that kept coming, games to win, and stories to be told. As “the last rays of sun [had] left the grass” (Polacco), Gramma said a poem as “a small burst of starlight puffed out the grass” (Polacco). Fireflies! All of the kids grabbed jars to fill them with as much lightning as they could. Trisha tells of how she will share this story for reunions to