Hattie's Story (American Quilts, Book 2)

Hattie's Story (American Quilts, Book 2) Review

Eleven-year-old Hattie Crosby, daughter of Ellen Tandy from the first American Quilts book, is growing up on the Illinois prairie in 1856, at a time when the issue of slavery has already begun to tear the nation apart. Hattie's parents are abolitionists, especially her New Englander father, but Hattie's best friend, Dora June, is the daughter of the local constable, whose job lately has been to capture runaway slaves. Dora June's father forbids her to play with Hattie because he suspects Mr. Crosby is helping runaways. Hattie herself begins to wonder if her father could be involved in the Underground Railroad. What she discovers - he is indeed helping runaways - changes everything. Suddenly Hattie is aware of times when she suspected strange things were going on. And now all the Crosbys must be extra-careful, what with the constable being extra suspicious. As the months go by, Hattie dares to hope - that the runaways will go undetected, that the baby her mother is expecting will be born healthy, and that her father will forget his longing to move the family to "bleeding Kansas." But nothing can prepare the Crosbys for the tragedy that awaits their little town. Like the first American Quilts book, this was very much a family story, but it was also a story about what happens when people allow suspicion and hatred to overwhelm them, and as such, it delivers a powerful message. Highly recommended to girls ages ten and up who enjoy books such as the "Dear America" series.

A family, like a quilt, can be pieced together in many ways. And a quilt, like a family, is rich with stories. Lacey's great-grandmother has a trunkful of family quilts, and stories, she loves to share with Lacey. And the stories the old quilts tell help Lacey understand not only the generations that have come before her, but her own family as well.

Take Hattie, Lacey's great-great-great-grandmother, growing up in Mount Hope, Illinois in 1856. Illinois is a free state, but the law allows slave hunters to search for run way slaves, and tensions are pretty high between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in town. Hattie is caught in the middle: her best friend's father is the local constable, and Hattie's own father seems to be involved in some pretty dangerous -- and illegal -- business. But nothing can prepare Hattie for the tragedy that awaits the little town when the tensions finally explode.