Quilt of States: Piecing Together America

by Adrienne Yorinks

There is no book quite like Quilt of States—the unique combination of handmade quilts with the voice of each state heard through the writing of one of the state's librarians to illustrate the coming together of the United States of America.

Using one of the only two original American folk art forms—quilting (jazz is the other)—Adrienne Yorinks demonstrates her amazing talent for using quilts not only as art, but as information sources. Her work illustrates the history of our country and is accompanied by the words of librarians from every state in the Union.

Genres: Nonfiction, United States

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 11, 2005

Reviews

[June Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this National Geographic book in the library catalog when I narrowed my search to 'quilts' in the Children's collection. Success!

As you read in the 'About the Book' section above the author, Adrienne Yorinks, dreamed up a collaboration with 50 librarians from across America. She would design and make the quilts while a librarian from each state would write a small history of the state he/she represents. I feel that this collaboration was a great success!

Each state's blurb includes the date it became a state of the Union, the state capital, and a brief history of the state. The quilt square the author designed includes a fabric outline of the state with the capital marked with a blue ✩ and fabric pictures of important landmarks of the state, animals and crops from the state, etc.

For my home state of California, the author included an orange slice, palm tree, grapes, artichokes, golden poppies, and a first-generation desktop computer--you know, the ones with the huge monitor on a platform?

For Louisiana, she included a bottle of hot sauce, pelicans, magnolia flowers, strawberries, a trumpet, and a Mardi Gras mask. Colorado is represented by a dairy cow, a mountain lake scene with elk, a green apple, and that same first-generation desktop computer as was in the California quilt square.

Besides being a lot of fun to look through, I learned a lot from this book about the history of our nation's 49 states other than California. There are also several quilted maps of the United States of America as it grew and changed over the years until our 50th state, Hawaii, was added in August, 1959.

Back matter features a text listing of 'State Facts' shown in alphabetical order and including the date of statehood, state slogan/nickname, state tree, state flower, state bird, fun fact, and a state claim to fame. Each contributor has a thumbnail bio preceding the note from the author/illustrator. In her note, the author/illustrator includes details of how she made the quilt squares.

Along with all of the great information about the states that is documented here, I think this book would be a fun 'I Spy' type of activity book for small groups of children to work on together.

Highly-recommended for librarians, classroom teachers, families, and children who enjoy learning about history.

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[Turrean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever use of quilts to illustrate a history of the United States. Each state gets its own two-page spread, with a quilted map, and quilted pieces showing other aspects of the state's history. Each state has a little historical vignette, written by a librarian from that state (Yay! Librarians!)

There are some problems, though. You have to flip to the end notes for more information on each state--incorporating a fact box into each spread would have made better sense. It also reduces the book from a reference source to a browsing-for-tidbits coffee table book. Also, some elements of the quilts are simply not explained anywhere in the book. Why is there a pitcher for West Virginia? What native people created the pottery and basketry in the Arizona quilt? Adults will understand the presence of a (very outdated) computer in the California quilt, or the steamboat in the Missouri quilt; will kids? I expected more from a book with the "National Geographic" imprimatur.

[Keri-Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous book! Each two page spread had a short write-up on how every state came into the union, which was written by a librarian from that state. I loved how the author used librarians as her resource individuals. Even better, each state's spread was illustrated with a mini-quilt which had the shape of the state and broderie perse raw edge applique which included representative animals, plants and industries for each state. I was astounded by the variety (and the kinds of fabrics the author/illustrator was able to find) and completely enchanted by the illustrations and the thought that went into them. Part of each state illustration (I didn't discover until the end) featured a floral fabric with that state's official flower. Every few pages there is also a map of how the country grew and looked at various points in history. A great deal of thought went into the book and it really shows.

[Mimo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not your average book about the states. This book uses quilt blocks combined with text to show how each state joined the union. There are also different quilt maps of the US at different points in time, such as a color-coded representation of what secession looked like during the Civil War. Plus, all of the quilters were librarians. I would have given this 5 stars if they had pieced the quilt together and shown it as a whole.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

One two paged spread per state (listed in the order they entered the Union), plus period views of the whole continent to show the impact of those new states.

The two paged spread is mostly a quilt square for the state, showing the state and capital and some appropriate icons for the state. There's a 1-2 paragraph description of the state and how they entered the Union.

Would be good for geography or US History.