Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom

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December Books

Hospkinson, Deborah, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Knopf, 1995.

As a seamstress in the Big House, Clara dreams of a reunion with her Momma, who lives on another plantation - and even of running away to freedom. Then she overhears two slaves talking about the Underground Railroad. In a flash of inspiration, Clara sees how she can use the cloth in her scrap bag to make a map of the land - a freedom quilt - that no master will ever suspect.

Tiffault, Benette W., Quilt for Elizabeth, Centering, 1996.

Eight-year-old Elizabeth learns to accept the death of her father by learning to sew. She and her grandmother piece together patches of saved clothing that holds treasured memories of her father.

Williams, Sherley Anna, Working Cotton, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1996.

Shelan, the young child of two migrant workers, follows her parents into the fields to help them pick cotton during a long day of work, in a dramatically illustrated study of migrant family life.

Woodson, Jacqueline, and Hudson Talbott, Show Way, Putnam, 2005.

A Show Way is a quilt with secret meanings. Based on Woodson's own history, the story is of African American women across generations, from slavery and the civil rights movement to the present.

Jordan, Sandra, Christmas Tree Farm, Scholastic, 1993.

Describes the activities that take place on a Christmas tree farm in Rhode Island throughout each season of the year.

Winter, Jeanette, The Christmas Tree Ship, Philomel, 1994.

Based on the true story of Herman Schuenemann, who, beginning in 1887, sailed down Lake Michigan each year from upper Michigan to bring a shipload of Christmas trees to the city. One year, tragedy strikes and his ship goes down in a storm. "When the snows of November blew in again," however, his wife and daughters decide to carry on the tradition, and the tree-laden schooner sails once again.

Recommend a book.

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Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom

Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.