Sandra Dallas brings themes of women, friendship to children’s novel

Sandra Dallas is known for her writing. Her books carry themes of friendship, loyalty and human dignity that resonate with readers long after the final page is turned. Sandra has written 11 novels for adults, 10 nonfiction books and countless articles as a reporter for Business Week. But up until recently, she had never forayed into the world of children’s literature.

In 2004, Sandra published “The Quilt That Walked to Golden,” a history of quilting in Colorado and the Mountain States. A friend told her it would make a good children’s book.

“I’d never considered writing for children, but I was intrigued and agreed that the story of a little girl walking to Golden might work for children,” Sandra told Cracking the Cover. “As I was between books with no idea of what I would write next, I decided to give it a try.”

Sandra says that draft wasn’t very good, and it was the wrong length for a children’s book, so she put it aside and forgot about. Later, Sandra was approached by Amy Lennex at Sleeping Bear Press, who asked if she’d ever considered writing a children’s book. “Amy saw possibilities in the manuscript, and I decided to rewrite it,” Sandra said. “Amy is a superb editor. She taught me how to write for children.”

That draft became “The Quilt Walk,” the story of young girl named Emmy Blue who moves west with her mother and father in 1864. The story is based on a real a real event, Sandra says. “In the early 1860s, Thomas Burgess came west to strike it rich.  He didn’t but realized there was money to be made in erecting commercial buildings.  So in 1864, he and his wife, Mary Ann, and daughter, Alice, along with his brother and the brother’s wife, came west.

“The men filled the covered wagons with building materials, so there wasn’t room for trunks of clothing. The men told their wives they could take only what they could wear. So the women put on all their clothing and walked (you didn’t ride much in oxen-drawn covered wagons) all the way to Golden. When the clothing wore out, they cut it up and made a quilt — known in the family as ‘the Quilt That Walked to Golden.’”

While the Burgess story served as great inspiration, Sandra quickly realized there were only a few facts and the story would be mostly fiction. So she changed the names. Alice became Emmy Blue Hatchett. “I had to start thinking like a 10-year-old, something I hadn’t done in 60 years,” Sandra said. “I had to cut out much of the detail that I would put into an adult book and concentrate on writing simpler sentences. The highlight was that I discovered I loved writing for children.”

But writing for children didn’t mean keeping from them the relationships adults of the time faced, including domestic abuse and women’s limited rights. “Because my adult novels deal with women’s issues as well as friendship, I wanted ‘The Quilt Walk’ to be more hard-edged than just a children’s adventure story. I wanted readers to think and learn as well as enjoy themselves. So I added domestic abuse and women’s lack of options in the mid-19^th century. These don’t dominate the book, of course, but they are part of its fabric.”

As the title “Quilt Walk” suggests, quilting is a major element throughout the book. Sandra says she’s a poor quilter herself but that she loves quilts, particularly old ones, because they are women’s art.

Women during that time were not encouraged to become fine artists, so they put their artistry into every day objects, Sandra says. “They could have made big patch quilts, but instead, they chose to make them using intricate designs. And quilting involved friendship — trading scraps and patterns, getting together to stitch. Life was hard in those days, and quilting was about beauty and friendship.”

Finding beauty and friendship in hard situations has been a theme throughout Sandra’s novels. It’s why she says readers find them appealing. “I think they relate to the friendship and the connection women make with each other in my books — and to the women’s issues.”

Sandra has worked as a reporter and has authored fiction, nonfiction and now books for young readers. She’s not sure where she’ll go next, but she’ll continue to write. “I went from journalism to nonfiction to journalism to adult novels to children’s books. I’m not sure where I go from here. Oddly enough, there is a connection. It’s all about words and how you put them together.”

*Read a complete transcript of Sandra Dallas’ interview with Cracking the Cover. Read Cracking the Cover’s review of “The Quilt Walk.”