The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom is a picture book written by Bettye Stroud and illustrated by Erin Susanne Bennett. The story follows a young slave girl named Hannah, who recalls the special quilt her mama once made for her, which includes secret meanings imbedded in the quilt patterns. “The monkey wrench turns the wagon wheel toward Canada on a bear paw’s trail to the crossroads,” Hannah remembers. Taking the quilt with them, Hannah and her father set out on a long journey on the Underground Railroad, keeping out of sight and stopping along the way at a church and a Quaker family’s safe house. While historians disagree as to the actual role quilts may have played in the Underground Railroad, oral histories continue to surface. In an author’s note, Stroud cites as her inspiration a 1999 book, Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad.
Deborah Hopkinson’s newest book is Billy and the Rebel, a story for young readers inspired by a true incident at the Battle of Gettysburg.
