Faith Ringgold returns to Tar Beach for Cassie's Word Quilt as the heroine takes readers on a tour of her home, neighborhood and school. Beginning with an upper and lower case alphabet on the endpapers, the volume introduces each theme in an illustration bordered by Ringgold's signature quilting, then specific vignettes follow on the opposite page. For instance, "Cassie's bedroom has many colorful clothes" appears above a grid of nine items (bed, dresser, doll, etc.) in a 3x3 formation. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.