I really enjoyed reading this book. I really liked how there was story telling of several different historic time periods, and that there was a cultural piece, the basket, that was connected throughout each story. It also emphasizes the importance of passing cultural traditions to future generations. ( )

Goodreads Review:
As she teaches her granddaughter to sew a traditional sweetgrass basket, a grandmother weaves a story, going back generations to her old-timey grandfather's village in faraway Africa. There, as a boy, he learned to make baskets so tightly woven they could hold the rain. Even after being stolen away to a slave ship bound for America, he remembers what he learned and passes these memories on to his children - as they do theirs, so that

. . . when your fingers talk just right
that circle will go out and out again -
past slavery and freedom, old ways and new,
and your basket will hold the past . . .

This powerful picture book, with its rhythmic text and evocative paintings, spirals through time, becoming a triumphant song - a rich story of a craft, a culture, and a people.

A Circle Unbroken is a loving, heartbreaking, history that a grandmother tells to her granddaughter detailing the life her family endured in the past as well as the traditions they held and still hold as she tells her story. The tightly wound circle of a sweetgrass basket or "Gullah" symbolizes the connection to Africa the basket weavers have every time they form their circle. No matter what, if their fingers work just right they will connect with their ancestors and the history that connects them all. ( )

A well-written story of the history of the sweetgrass baskets of South Carolina and Georgia. When a young girl asks her grandmother about the baskets, her grandmother patiently tells to story of long ago slavery when her grandfather was taken from his African home and used as a slave on a plantation. After the Civil War, the grandfather and grandmother marry.

They continue the African tradition of the sweetgrass basket weaving. And thus, the circles contained in the basket are a symbolic measure of the circle that binds together.

Two Stars ( )

The book is about a young girl who asks her grandmother about her baskets and why its so important. The grandmother goes to tell her how the basket connects their family to past ancestors that lived in Africa and the many hardships they had to endure. The book shows the beauty in her culture and can show others to be proud of theirs and the traditions. The book is an easy read and can be used for multicultural connections and a comprehension or summary assignment. ( )