ALA Booklist (Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2009)

A young girl knows that "Mama works hard in the field," but the full reality of their lives as slaves is unclear to her. She knows Mama picks cotton; she knows she salves Mama's hands at night. She also knows that Mama has been spending a lot of time lately cutting pieces of cloth to stitch together pictures for a quilt. After coming home one night bloody from a whipping, Mama removes her ruined red shirt and cuts from it a heart, adding it to her designs. A late-night rendezvous reveals that the quilt's images are to serve as instructions to help the daughter escape through the Underground Railroad: "a log cabin for safety / a star to follow / moss on the trees to lead. / And in the middle, a little girl so happy, surrounded by a worn and tattered heart." Cabrera's artwork matches textured, muddy paintings e dark, anonymous dots of hunched cotton pickers is particularly affecting th swaths of appropriately distressed cloth. An educational author's note caps off this haunting yet hopeful presentation.

Kirkus Reviews

Spare language and vibrant art present a powerful message of hope during American slavery, through a mother's sacrifice and her gift of freedom. From her young daughter's perspective, readers learn of the brutal labor and punishment her mother endures. While the child witnesses slavery's atrocities during the day, her mother returns each evening to sew a quilt. She explains that each square symbolizes the road out of bondage; the central patch depicts a little girl who is "the most loved in all the world." Mixed-media illustrations capture the mother's urgency as she leads her daughter to the Underground Railroad, her red kerchief the dominant detail against the dark night sky. While the mother returns to her life in slavery alone, a golden lantern shines against the vast imposing background. Cabrera's rich acrylic paintings and textile collage add immediacy to the gripping text. An unflinching depiction of slavery's impact on families, this selection's reassuring message of love shatters all bonds. (author's note, further resources) (Picture book. 6-9)

Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

A mother entrusts her daughter to those who will help her escape slavery. Frightened and sad, the girl is comforted by her mother's quilt, embedded with hidden messages of strength and love. The text conveys the pathos of slavery and one family's desperate quest for freedom. Atmospheric acrylic paint and textile collages extend the narrative. Reading list.

School Library Journal (Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2009)

Gr 3-6 A slave mother creates a quilt to guide and comfort her young daughter, whom she is sending to freedom along the Underground Railroad. In a straightforward, heartfelt story written in dialect, Hegamin shows that a woman can love her child dearly yet still give her up, in the youngster's best interest. An author's note explains that debates over the authenticity of quilts used as maps continue; Hegamin states that she used the quilt as a symbol and story device. The artwork matches the tone of the story well, featuring dark images interspersed with quilted blocks that bring brightness to the primitive-style paintings. Patchwork endpapers that incorporate recognizable quilt blocks add to the homespun feel of the story. Paired with Deborah Hopkinson's Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (Knopf, 2003), this book would be a useful discussion point for supplementing Underground Railroad units. Angela J. Reynolds, Annapolis Valley Regional Library, Bridgetown, NS, Canada

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

Hegamin (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">M+0 4EVR) tackles difficult concepts of slavery, courage and sacrifice in a poignant book about a mother who sends her daughter on the Underground Railroad, armed with a quilt she has made for her; the mother, identifying herself as an “agent,” stays behind to help other slaves escape. The quilt’s centerpiece depicts a smiling girl: the mother wants her daughter to remember always that she is “the most loved in all the world.” The story of slaves finding their way to freedom via directions disguised in patchwork (whether or not this happened is still debated, the author explains in an endnote) is made freshly dramatic by Hegamin’s focus on the separation of mother and child. Cabrera’s (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Beauty, Her Basket) broad sweeping paintings—filled with shadowy images, occasionally bordering on the abstract, with some pages merely washes of color—add a deeper note of somberness to the spare text, told in a child’s voice. The narrator’s report that “when Mama come home/ she have whip marks ’cross her back” and “tear marks down her face” may call for explanation, but young readers will share her shock at her mother’s final action and sympathize with her grief. Ages 4–8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Jan.)