She Stitched the Stars

A Story of Ellen Harding Baker's Solar System Quilt

In 1876 Ellen Harding Baker began stitching an extraordinary quilt, one that accurately depicted our solar system. Ellen, an Iowa storekeeper’s wife and a mother, had a curiosity that reached far beyond the stratosphere. Today, the quilt hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. This lyrical story imagines the creation of the quilt from the perspective of Ellen’s daughters, who, like their mother, lived in a time when girls and women were expected to limit their pursuit of knowledge, and who may have been inspired to dream bigger and look farther.

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  • 32 Pages
  • 8" x 10"
  • 9780807573228
  • October 2021

Buy from Albert Whitman

  • 9780807573259
  • September 2021

Reviews

  • This lively portrayal of the girls and their mother sparkles with curiosity and joy; it’s sure to inspire questions in young listeners as it embraces feminism, history, creativity, and science. An engaging inquiry into the lives of everyday girls who are limited by historical circumstance but yearn for more.

    - Kirkus Reviews

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