THE HANDKERCHIEF QUILT

When frozen water pipes break, flooding the school, longtime elementary teacher Miss Anderson rallies students and their families to make a quilt from handkerchiefs she’s collected, gifts from those she’s taught over the years. The quilt is sold for money to replace lost books and supplies. Crane, author of numerous alphabet and counting books, has based her first published fiction on an incident from her mother's life. She recounts events journalistically, chronologically and with little effort to provide tension for the narrative arc or to develop character. Although the time and place aren’t identified in the story, the afterword sets it in Flint, Mich., in the early 1950s. Palmer’s watercolor-and-pencil illustrations reflect the times, both in the clothing and in the classroom Thanksgiving artwork, which includes a Native American wearing a Plains Indian headdress, which will make some modern readers cringe. The people appear stiff and distant; they look away from the reader. Although the story has emotional potential, it isn’t been realized in this telling. (Picture book. 6-9)