Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Carmen Chavez

Book Title: The Patchwork Quilt
Author: Valerie Flournoy
Genre: Historical Fiction
Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney
Publisher/Year: Dial Books, 1985
Evaluate the Book for the following elements
Style and Language: Using examples for the book, explain the following: Word
choices, dialogue, rhythm, rhyme, and sentence length. Share unexpected insights or
interesting information the reader learns from this story. (5 points)
- There is a lot of descriptive language in this book. With words such as
“snipping,” “cutting”, “drawn and tired”, “puffy red”, they describe actions or
just the characters in this book. It is one of the most descriptive stories that I
have come across yet. Some sentences are long while others are short. There is
a good amount of dialogue in the story as well. They all perfectly fit in with the
story and the contents of the story.

Character: With examples from the book, provide the following- (5 points)
Who is the main character?
How can the reader relate to the character?
Who are the supporting characters?
- The main characters are Tanya and Grandma.
- Supporting characters are the rest of the family, papa, mama, Jim, and Ted.
- The reader can relate to the character in the way that she is helping and caring.
Like many other children, she wants to help the way that she can, and she
takes initiative to do so.

Plot: Summarize the major events of the story (6 points)

- Grandma makes Tanya aware of the importance of a patchwork quilt. Tanya
decides she likes the idea of the patchwork quilt and all of the stories that her
Grandma says it tells. When Grandma falls ill, Tanya takes it upon herself to cut
squares to finish off the quilt while her mother stitches. To included Grandma
in the quilt, Tanya cuts a couple squares off of Grandma’s old quilt. Once
Grandma is much better, she finishes the quilt and shows it to the family. It
regards a lot of memories, and it is then that mama and Grandma decide to
 dedicate the quilt to Tanya.

Setting: Explain the place and time of this book. (2 points)

Theme: What is the main message of this book? (2 points)
- The setting of the book is almost always in Tanya’s home. There are a couple
pages that take place outside in the snow.
- The theme of the book is that fabrics hold so much memories and putting them
all together on a quilt, resembles all the love and good times that a family
holds together.

Illustration: Analyze the book you selected with the following categories
Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)? (2
points)
- Impressionism

Media Choice (paints, oils watercolors, pencils, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk):
(2 points)
- Watercolors, pencil, pen

Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in the
illustrations: (3)
Line: The lines are straight and used mostly for detail. There are no slanted lines that
show movement.
Shapes: Angular shapes
Color: Most of the colors that are shown in the illustrations are warm colors. Most
are pastels in exception of small details such as hair and designs on clothing.
Texture: The texture of the pages seems to be smooth with art of watercolor.

Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and dark space, and
all pages the same or different). (3)
- Some pages are all white with text while the page next to it holds an
illustration. Other pages have an illustration as well as text. There is some
white space but not so much that it looks empty.

Child Development Theory: Choose either Piaget, Erickson or Social Emotional to

describe the connection to the book Chose 1 only (5 points)
Piaget:
Name the stage Sensorimotor and the age Birth-2 years
Explain the cognitive development from this stage and provide an example from the
book to support your choice:
- “Understands world through senses and actions.” Tanya understood that with
her action of cutting squares for the quilt, it showed that she liked the idea of
the patchwork quilt and was excited to see it turn out.

Erickson:
Name the stage Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt and the age Toddlerhood
Explain the cognitive development from this stage and provide an example from the
book to support your choice:
- “Toddlers become mobile and attempt to do things on their own.” Tanya was
able to take the lead in finishing the quilt and was able to cut squares on her
own.

Emotional Development:
Identify the age: 1-2 years
Explain the social development for this age and how the book relates
to the emotional level you chose:
- “Expanding vocabulary for talking about feelings (happy, sad).” When mama
told Tanya and papa that she thought Grandma would be lonely in the house,
Tanya objected. Tanya explained how Grandma would not be lonely because
she has the quilt which tells lots of stories. Tanya was able to communicate the
emotions that the quilt brings to Grandma.

1 would not recommend 2 average 3 highly recommended

Your rating of the book: 3 highly recommend
Why?
- This book was beautiful from start to finish. I really enjoyed reading the book.
The content that it revolved around was homey and warm. With the discussion
of memories and family love, it was a great book. I am sure so many others
would enjoy reading it and maybe even be inspired to start their own
patchwork quilt.