Editorial Content for Minna's Patchwork Coat
Reviewer (text)
It’s the early 1900s and Minna lives with her family in Rabbit Ridge, a town in the snowy Appalachian Mountains. Minna can’t go to the school because she doesn’t have a coat, and her father, a coal miner, promises to make her one before the next year begins. To make more money, he hires a Cherokee boy to help as a farmhand, and offers Minna’s tutoring skills as payment. Before Minna’s family earns enough money to buy a coat, though, her father dies from the polluted air in the mines.
One day, when the Quilting Mothers come to Minna's house to make quilts to sell to venders in Europe, they hear Minna's story and decide to make her a coat out of their children's rags --- Minna is finally able to go to school.
On Minna’s first day, though, she realizes that school is not as much fun as she thought it would be. The children tease her without relent and none of them will be her friend. What would they do if they found out that Minna was tutoring a Cherokee boy? What would they do if they found out that he was her only friend?
MINNA'S PATCHWORK COAT is an adorable, heartwarming book with sweet words to live by.
MINNA'S PATCHWORK COAT is an adorable, heartwarming book with sweet words to live by. Lauren Mills tells a story about how friendship trumps prejudice and helps mend mistakes. She paints a picture of tolerance, self-worth and what it takes to keep warm inside and out.
In the novel, there were several references to Cherokee stories and beliefs, making MINNA’S PATCHWORK COAT unique and culturally educational in ways that many children's books are not. Mills also highlights the prejudice that Cherokee Indians face, sharing struggles that they had both in the early 1900s and still have, today.
However, the Cherokee characters were the only aspect of MINNA’S PATCHWORK COAT that struck me as unique. The ending is straightforward and predictable and, while cute, the book sometimes lacks depth. Mills tries to be culturally inoffensive and, as a consequence, the racism in the book lacks a sense of authenticity. Nevertheless, this is the perfect book for a sensitive child that has just started to read chapter books.
Teaser
Minna and her family don't have much in their small Appalachian cabin, but "people only need people," Papa always reminds her. Unable to afford a winter coat to wear to school, she's forced to use an old feed sack to keep her warm. Then Papa's terrible cough from working in the coal mines takes him away forever, and Minna has a hard time believing that anything will be right again...until her neighbors work tirelessly to create a coat for her out of old fabric scraps. Now Minna must show her teasing classmates that her coat is more than just rags --- it's a collection of their own cherished memories, each with a story to share.
Promo
Minna and her family don't have much in their small Appalachian cabin, but "people only need people," Papa always reminds her. Unable to afford a winter coat to wear to school, she's forced to use an old feed sack to keep her warm. Then Papa's terrible cough from working in the coal mines takes him away forever, and Minna has a hard time believing that anything will be right again...until her neighbors work tirelessly to create a coat for her out of old fabric scraps. Now Minna must show her teasing classmates that her coat is more than just rags --- it's a collection of their own cherished memories, each with a story to share.
