The All-Together Quilt

K-Gr 4--Rockwell, the founder and artistic director of the cooperative community quilting group Peace by Piece: The Norwalk Community Quilt Project, offers a heartwarming and informative picture book inspired by her personal experience. The book centers on a group of people from different generations and ethnicities, who join together to create a work of art to hang in the library. The text provides a step-by-step process of quilting, from picking out the colorful fabrics for each square to crafting a border of handprints to surround the quilt. Vibrant illustrations rendered in pencil and gouache depict the process of designing, sewing the pieces together, and stitching the layers. Rockwell includes layouts that showcase the many activities happening in the workroom as well as cutouts that explain the specific stages in the quilting process. The joy derived from working together to make something beautiful shines throughout the narrative. A chart of nine classic quilt blocks could be a handy resource. There is also a detailed list of the globally sourced fabrics that were used in the quilt. VERDICT A great purchase for all libraries. Though fictionalized, the story depicts an inspirational vision that spotlights the fruitful results of creative community collaboration. A solid resource to use as the basis for a multigenerational maker project.--Theresa Muraski, Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Lib.