Piece By Piece

by Stephanie Shaw, Sylvie Daigneault (Illustrations)

Drawing inspiration from the natural world around her, a weaver woman with a magical touch crafts exquisite fabrics. And from the fabric she fashions a wondrous dress, with a bodice that sparkles of starlight and lace like the foam of an ocean wave. The weaver envisions the food and clothing she will be able to buy for her children from the sale of the dress. But when she takes the dress to a local shopkeeper, the weaver is told her work is not saleable. And so she starts over again. Harkening back to the magic and lessons learned from classic fairy tales, this imaginative tale reminds readers of all ages of the importance of pursuing one's dreams and following one's heart.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Canada

32 pages, Hardcover

Published July 15, 2017

About the author

After a successful career teaching children with severe behavioral challenges, school counseling and school administration, Stephanie Shaw now loves creating stories that range from quiet to quirky, poetry to prose. When she isn’t assisting door-to-door vacuum cleaner vampire salesmen, taking cows on shopping trips for muumuus, or helping garden slugs with their calligraphy, she can be found at home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Reviews

[Hannah Flowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most beautiful children’s book I’ve read in a long while (and I read a lot!). A very sweet story with stunning illustrations.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman draws inspiration from the beauties of Nature and weaves those natural elements into the cloth that she is creating. Each of the pieces has a story, of course, which she shares with her children. After fashioning a most extraordinary dress, she tries to sell it to a local merchant. But he suggests various changes to the garment, which she makes. By the time she has followed his dictates and cut away all the offending pieces of the dress, there is hardly anything left, and she is filled with despair. Then, to her surprise, her children reveal what they've been up to, having fashioned a quilt out of the lovely pieces that once formed the dress. When the merchant realizes how popular the quilt is, he tries to buy it from her. But she decides that she has other plans. The illustrations in this book are luminous and eye-appealing. Readers will need to read between the lines to decide what happens in the end. This might be a useful picture book for sharing as teachers prepare a culminating activity for a language arts lesson that relates to quilts or pulling together the pieces of a story. After all, the quilt squares or literary elements by themselves are interesting enough, but they become even more impressive when combined.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This children's picture book tells a sparkling story about a young mother seamstress. Magical but also with a lesson for children, I would recommend this to all young moms who also love to sew!

[Katie W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, imaginative, enchanting read :)

[L Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks Anita for the recommendation! This is a brilliant childrens' book with colour pictures and a wonderful message! Strength, preserverance ... kudos Stephanie Shaw!!

[Little Batties · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was so sweet. I LOVED it.

The main character is a sweet, caring mother that is willing to do whatever it takes to get a few necessities for her and her children. She makes a beautiful gown and, time after time, makes that changes that is asked if her but nothing is good enough; there's always something wrong with it. It shows the undying love a mother can have for her children.

Then there's her children who are curious and trying to help the best they can. It's was nice to see children realizing something needs to be done and trying to do it. Honestly, I don't think I could come up with a bad critique of this if I tried. I won't give to many more details because of spoilers, but it is definitely worth the read.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry, too sentimental for me, too 'instant classic' vibe. Very pretty, and good message, and good author's note. Recommended to the right family (maybe homeschoolers).

[Engel Dreizehn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very rich and beautiful in illustrations and the themes of motifs found in quitting patterns, and how personal each motif is.