Awards for The Whispering Cloth
IRA: Teachers' Choice
IRA Notable Book for a Global Society
NCTE Notable Children's Book
CBC/NCSS Notable Children’s Book in the Social Studies
Hungry Mind Review: Finalist, Book of Distinction Award
Texas "Best of the Best" 1995
Kansas State Reading Circle Selection
Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo): Selection for Books to Grow By
Selection: 300 Great Books for Girls
Plus "Recommended Title" for many other state & county reading lists
THE WHISPERING CLOTH REVIEWS
HNEEN (Hmong New England Entertainment): “In a time when we needed something to be proud of, Pegi Deitz Shea has shown us what we already have. We should read this book to our children.”
New York Times: “Sometimes a story comes to you and it is a gift…and you tell it because youy have to. …Behind the barbed wire [Shea] saw a little girl sitting at the feet of her grandmother and couldn’t forget.”
School Library Journal: “A tale of restrained anguish, it ends nevertheless on a note of stubborn optimism.”
Booklist: “The final pa’ndau of Mai flying in an airplane to a land of comfort and safety is a moving representation of the dreams of refugees everywhere.” Hazel Rochman
Publishers Weekly: “Closeup photos of Yang’s textured needlework, as well as [Anita} Riggio’s accomplished watercolor and gouache paintings add to the poignancy of the tale. Bound to elicit many questions.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer: “A remarkable, innovative collaboration.” Jane Resh Thomas