Books like The Quiltmaker's Gift

This is a story of the victory of selflessness over greed and the power of generosity in transforming people’s hearts. The quilt maker is an old woman who lives at the top of the mountain. She makes quilts unlike any the world has seen. At night she goes down to the city and gives away her quilts to poor or homeless people. There is also a powerful and greedy king in the story, who loves getting presents. He owns a lot of things, but he is never happy. He is still looking for that one thing that would make him happy. One day he hears about the quilt maker and wants her to make him a quilt. Her condition is for him to make presents of everything he owns. For each thing he gives away, she will add another piece to the quilt. After a lot of hesitation and angry outbursts, the king finally agrees. He ends up traveling around the world, giving away his possessions and making people happy. Finally, he is in rags himself from all the traveling. The quilt maker finds him already happy and content and gives him his beautiful new quilt. They remain lifelong friends. She continues making quilts, and the king distributes them at night to the poor and downhearted. He has finally discovered the one thing that makes him happy, which is giving something away.This book belongs to traditional literature genre of legends and folktales. It was written in 1999, but it reads like an old folktale. It has a story-telling pattern, rich language and elements of magic and fantasy. Its characters are evocative of old legends. The narrative also has a clear didactic purpose, with the moral of the story being that material things don’t make us happy – people do; also, that it is better to give than to receive.The book is appropriate as an interactive read-aloud for grades K-2. Every page has a visual clue in the form of a quilt square whose symbolism is related to the passage. The names and pictures of all the featured squares are on the inside covers of the book. Children can examine them and explore the connection between the design and meaning of the square and how it fits into the narrative. Educational concepts to teach with this book include retelling (ELA 0.1.7.7), story elements, characters, main events (ELA 1.1.3.3), predicting, summarizing and determining the moral of the story (ELA 2.1.2.2). Students can create charts and graphic organizers to compare and contrast the king’s character at the beginning and the end of the story.Possible topics for discussion (evaluation) include gift giving and receiving (suitable around the time of holidays), charity, generosity vs. greed, and whether material things alone can make us happy.A great way to integrate this book with arts is to make a class quilt. Students can draw their own quilt squares that tell a certain story (about themselves/their family.) Individual quilt squares can be glued to a big poster. This activity is suitable at the beginning of the school year as a way to build community in the classroom.