Pick of the Day: Show Way (DVD)

Show Way. DVD. 12 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-47811-3. 59.95. CD, ISBN 978-0-545-47810-6: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0545-47827-4: $29.95.
Gr 2-5–A Show Way was a quilt that had messages stitched into it showing the family’s journey North to freedom, offering hope and a guide for slaves in the South. That theme of “leading the way” is a thread running through Jacqueline Woodson’s carefully woven story (Putnam, 2005). Soonie’s great-grandma was only a child when she was sold away from her parents. The patchwork quilts that she pieced contained clues leading to freedom. She passed her skill and knowledge on to her daughter, and so it went—generation after generation of strong women, each adding their own piece to the patchwork of their family history. From slavery to civil rights to the author’s own daughter, viewers follow this celebration of the guiding influence that strong women can have in a family. Woodson has chosen each word with particular care, and the personal warmth shines through as she reads her own work with a smile in her voice. Hudson Talbott’s amazing multimedia illustrations joyously play on the quilt theme in wonderful spreads of both patterns and history. To see the author’s own child included in the illustrations at the end of a quilted line of strong women, her face the center of the “North Star” pattern, is heart-touching. There is also a brief interview with the author as she talks about her ancestors and the process of writing the story. This is a wonderful homage to the power of knowing your own history and being true to those who have shown you the way to follow your own dreams.–Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary, Federal Way, WA