The other day I was talking with one of my favorite kindergarteners about school, and she told me that they had had book fair. Oh, I remember the excitement of book fair: looking through all those luscious books and choosing a few to buy. I remember one of my favorite fifth grade finds was about a girl with leukemia. She went to a cancer camp and had fun like a normal kid and even met a boy just like her. I laughed. I cried. I read it a gillion times. And the next year I bought the sequel. So fifth/sixth grader-ish!
I thought it'd be fun to have a book fair here on the blog! The only difference is that I did not purchase any of the books I'll be talking about (I checked them out at the library), and I promise none of them will be in the fifth grade drama genre. So get out your library card! You have endless book fair privileges!
Sometimes I know what I'm looking for when I go to the library, but many times I'm surprised by what I find. This is one of my surprises...
Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt
This was sitting on the shelf, so I picked it up, thumbed through a few pages, and put it in my take home stack. Just looking at the quilts will inspire you, but reading about the lives of the quilters is also very interesting.
My favorite things about the book:
1. The quilts of course! Click any picture to see it larger.
2. Each quilt pictured has the name of the quilter, the pattern used (if any), the fabric used, and the dimensions. Many of the quilts (like the one following) were made out of corduroy - can you imagine what your shoulders would feel like after working with that heavy stuff?
3. They also include some pictures of the architecture around Gee's Bend that inspired some of the quilt designs. I'm really taken with the bus picture. Love that red circle!
Take some time with this one. The more you look, the more inspired you'll be.
