 | |
| Author | Patricia Polacco |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Picture Book |
| Publisher | Philomel Books |
| ISBN | 9780142411650 |
Christmas Tapestry is a 2002 picture book written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. The story is about how a Christian family help a long-separated Jewish couple reunite during the Christmas season.
When Jonathan's father, who is a Baptist preacher, moves to Detroit, he has to learn to adjust to a new town. [1] [2] Jonathan helps his father get the church ready for Christmas and when ice puts a hole in the wall, he goes out with his father to buy a tapestry to cover the hole with the last of their money. [1] While he and his father wait at the bus stop, an old woman offers them tea and later discovers that the tapestry had been made by the old woman as a chuppah for her wedding then she and her husband were separated by World War II. [1] [3] On Christmas Eve, when the hole is going to be patched up, the man who is doing the work recognizes the chuppah also and it turns out that he is the long-lost wife who he assumed dead. [1] [3] He, like the woman had thought that the other had died in the Holocaust. [3] In the end, the couple is brought together and Jonathan learns that "the universe unfolds as it should." [3]
An author's note describes that the inspiration for her story came from two different ministers. [4] The story is both interfaith and inter-generational in nature. [5] The book is illustrated by Polacco in pencil and watercolor. [4]
Publishers Weekly wrote that the story is slow sometimes, but "Polacco's signature illustrations of swirling snow, the fine tapestry and numerous love-filled faces invite readers to linger." [2]
Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, sometimes for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, with her first book being published in 1982. She would go on to write a variety of other kinds of children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will.
A chuppah, also huppah, chipe, chupah, or chuppa, is a canopy under which a Jewish couple stand during their wedding ceremony. It consists of a cloth or sheet, sometimes a tallit, stretched or supported over four poles, or sometimes manually held up by attendants to the ceremony. A chuppah symbolizes the home that the couple will build together.
Locked in Time is a 1985 suspense novel by Lois Duncan. The story centers around Nore, a seventeen-year-old girl who moves into a new home with her father and her new stepfamily. Soon after she meets her stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister for the first time, Nore begins to suspect something is not quite right about her stepfamily. The author states that the novel explores some of the issues surrounding having eternal life. Duncan says she developed the idea for the novel when one of her daughters was thirteen years old and was having issues with her body image. Duncan mentions that her daughter was "taking everything out" on her, and she began to wonder what it would be like if her daughter never outgrew her adolescence.
Patricia Barber Polacco is an American author and illustrator. Throughout her school years, Polacco struggled with reading but found relief by expressing herself through art. Polacco endured teasing and hid her disability until a school teacher recognized that she could not read and began to help her. Her book Thank You, Mr. Falker is Polacco's retelling of this encounter and its outcome. She also wrote such books as Mr. Lincoln's Way and The Lemonade Club.
Sabrina Jeffries is American author of romance novels, who also writes under the pen names Deborah Martin and Deborah Nicholas. Entertainment Weekly calls her "one of the long-reigning leading voices in historical romance."
Susanna Tamaro is an Italian novelist and film director. She is an author of novels, stories, magazine articles, and children's literature. Her novel Va' dove ti porta il cuore was a bestseller, translated into 44 languages, and received the 1994 Premio Donna Citta di Roma.
I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1973 suspense novel for young adults by Lois Duncan. A film adaptation loosely based on the novel was released in 1997.
Meteor! is a 1987 children's picture book by author Patricia Polacco. Polacco is well known for writing and illustrating stories depicting events from her childhood in Michigan. Meteor! was published in 1987 by The Trumpet Club, commonly known for publications of children's books from grades PreK-6. The story is about Patricia, her brother Richard, and Cousin Steve as young children spending time with their grandparents on their farm in Michigan. It seems to be a normal summer night until a flash from the sky and a crash in the yard.
The Lion & the Mouse is a 2009 nearly wordless picture book illustrated by Jerry Pinkney that tells Aesop's fable of The Lion and the Mouse. In the story, a mouse's life is a spared by a lion. Later, after the lion is trapped, the mouse is able to set the lion free. Adapting the fable, with the moral that the weak can help the strong, as a wordless picture book was seen as a successful way of overcoming the brief plot generally found in the source stories. While it was Pinkney's first wordless picture book, it was not the first time he had told the story, having previously included it in his Aesop's Fables, published in 2000. Pinkney, who had received five Caldecott Honors, became the first African American to win the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in the book. His illustrations were generally praised for their realism and sense of place. The cover illustrations, featuring the title characters but no text, drew particular praise.
First Light is a young adult science fiction and mystery novel by Rebecca Stead, first published in 2007. The novel follows Peter, who is in Greenland with his father and mother for research on global warming, and Thea, who lives in Gracehope, an underground colony located below Greenland. First Light explains how global warming is melting Gracehope and Peter and Thea's attempt to persuade the people to leave. The novel addresses the effects of global warming as a theme.
Lynn Joseph is an author of children's books and an American lawyer. Her novella The Color of My Words won an Américas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature and a Jane Addams Children's Book Award.
A Sick Day for Amos McGee is a 2010 children's picture book written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin E. Stead. The book depicts a zookeeper who has bonded with the animals he cares for and who come and visit him one day when he gets sick. Phillip Stead wrote the book hoping his wife Erin would illustrate it after a period where she had become discouraged with her art. The book was well reviewed, and Erin won the 2011 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations. The book received praise for its woodblock illustrations and for its message about what friends will do to help and support each other.
Lillian Breslow Rubin was an American writer, professor, psychotherapist and sociologist. She was a distinguished professor of sociology at Queens College and also worked as a senior researcher at the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley. Rubin was a feminist.
Wanda E. Brunstetter is a novelist in the Amish romance genre, with more than 10 million books sold. Her books have been on the New York Times Best Seller list. Brunstetter is based in Washington.
The Runaway Wok is a picture book written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by Sebastia Serra. The story follows a boy named Ming and his adventures with a magical talking wok who grants wishes.The story portrays the rich family as evil and the poor family as heroic.
The Runaway Rice Cake is a picture book written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by Tungwai Chau. The book tells the story of the Chang family and the sense of community that can be born from a simple act of kindness.
Latke, the Lucky Dog is a 2014 holiday-themed children's picture book written by Ellen Fischer and illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke. The story is about a mixed-breed dog, named Latke, who is adopted from an animal shelter for a Hanukkah present.
Grandmother Winter is a 1999 picture book written by Phyllis Root and illustrated by Beth Krommes. Grandmother Winter was Krommes' first illustrated book. The story is drawn from German fairy tales and describes the seasons.
Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story is a picture book published in 2000 and written by Angela Shelf Medearis with illustrations by Daniel Minter. The book tells the story of seven Ashanti brothers who must learn to work together, while also demonstrating the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
Grand Theft Horse is a 2018 graphic novel written by Greg Neri and illustrated by Corban Wilkin. The book is published by Lee & Low and is a biography of the horse trainer, Gail Ruffu.