SELINA AND THE BEAR PAW QUILT

The dilemma of a Mennonite family during America's Civil War is the subject of this charmingly designed book, which features quilted borders and intricate cloth patterns in the illustrations. Selina lives happily in Pennsylvania with her parents and her grandmother, who is making a Bear Paw quilt from scraps of treasured cloth. One piece is from her grandmother's wedding dress, another from a set of Selina's baby clothes. When her father comes home with news of war, Selina's simple life is disrupted. The Mennonites are considered disloyal by armies of both the North and South for not fighting, and their homes and meeting houses are destroyed. Selina's family journeys to relatives in Canada to avoid bloodshed, with her grandmother's gift of the still-unfinished Bear Paw quilt to make Selina feel at home. Readers who don't cover the introduction first may not understand why the Mennonites are ostracized, or even realize that Selina's family is Mennonite. Still, Selena's sorrow over leaving her home and grandmother will be plain to all. (Picture book. 4-9)