Zoe and the Story Quilt | 1
Zoe and the Story Quilt
An original fairy tale
Zoe sat with Grandma on a quilt.
A quilt is a blanket made with layers of cloth.
This one had red, gold, and blue patches.
“Tap, tap, tap. What is that?” asked Zoe.
“A bit of my blue dress,” said Grandma.
“My mom and I made this quilt.
I wore that dress when I learned to sew.”
“Our family is African American,” she said.
“We share stories about the people we love.”
“Tell it, tell it!” said Zoe.
“I will, I will!” said Grandma.
Then one blue patch began to glow.
Zoe and the Story Quilt | 2
Whoosh! Up went the quilt!
It took Zoe out over the garden.
A small star sat by her knee.
“I fell from the sky,” said the star.
“My light is low. I cannot fly.”
Zoe gave it a pat.
“Try a hop. Try a flap!”
The star went plop into her lap.
“I miss my home,” it said.
Zoe knew how to help.
“Come hear a story with me.”
“Home, home, here we go!
Slow, slow, down we go!”
The quilt slid in through her window.
Zoe and the Story Quilt | 3
“Tell it, tell it!” said Zoe.
“I will, I will!” said Grandma.
“When I was small, my mom helped me sew.
My stitches went up. My stitches went down.
Some went all the way around!
She said, ‘Try again. I will help you.’
So I tried. We made this quilt together.”
Zoe told the star what she had heard.
“Grandma kept trying. Her mom helped her.
Now I can help you, too.”
The star began to glow.
It rose up, up, into the sky.
“Tell it, tell it!” Zoe called.
“I will, I will!” sang the star.
Zoe had a new story to share.
Zoe and the Story Quilt | 4
Read Talk and Create
Talk about the story
1. Why did Zoe take the star home?
2. What did Grandma learn from her mom?
3. Which parts could happen in real life? Which parts are
magic?
Play with words
Read these rhyming pairs: sky / fly, pat / sat, glow / slow. Can
you add a word that rhymes?
Make a family story patch
Draw a square. Fill it with a happy memory. Tell someone
about your picture.
For the Grownup
Read the family words together first: Zoe, Grandma, quilt, story. A quilt is a blanket made with layers
of cloth. A patch is a piece of cloth. In this book, the patches are sewn together.
Zoe and Grandma are African American. Quilt-making and spoken storytelling have rich histories in
African American communities. This fictional family shares those traditions; families have many
different traditions. Say this connection aloud before or after reading. Invite a family memory without
assuming any particular family structure.
These are reading-level targets, not formally leveled or fully decodable texts. Preview unfamiliar
words, read together, then invite rereading. The quilt and star are make-believe. The family traditions
are real.
Cultural background: Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, African American Quilts; Library of Congress, African
American storytelling.
https://anacostia.si.edu/collection/spotlight/african-american-quilts
https://guides.loc.gov/folktales-oral-storytelling/African-American-storytelling
×
QiMeta Chat