| The Coffin Quilt: The Feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys | 
 enlarge | Author: Ann Rinaldi
Publisher: Gulliver Books Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $6.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (42 reviews)
Sales Rank: 294435
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0152164502
EAN: 9780152164508
ASIN: 0152164502
Publication Date: April 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Feuds among the mountain folks of West Virginia and Kentucky, particularly the bloody skirmishes between the Hatfield and McCoy families, are often celebrated in American legend and folksongs. In The Coffin Quilt, Ann Rinaldi mines this rich vein of Americana for a fascinating tale that closely follows the real events of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, but which also has implications for our own violent times. Rinaldi--known for Cast Two Shadows, An Acquaintance with Darkness, and other historical fiction novels for teens--suggests in her author's note that "the Civil War conditioned men who fought in it to kill and to hate." Consequently, men came home from the war to their mountains with minds and rifles primed to react to the slightest trespass upon their exaggerated loyalty to kinfolk. The story is told by Fanny, the youngest of the fourteen McCoy children, who traces the beginnings of the famous feud to a confused Civil War shooting and a dispute over a herd of pigs. When her favorite older sister, the beautiful Roseanna, runs off with handsome Johnse Hatfield, it's like a bucket of gasoline thrown on the smoldering hatred between the two families. Warned by the apparition she calls Yeller Thing, Fanny is nonetheless a helpless witness to ambushes and killings, burials and retribution. Too late she realizes that Roseanna's obsession with sewing a traditional but gruesome coffin-decorated quilt is a sign of her evil attraction to deliberately stoking the fires of the feud--providing a psychological thriller ending for this dramatic tale of hillbilly love and revenge. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell
Product Description
Fanny McCoy has lived in fear and anger ever since that day in 1878 when a dispute with the Hatfields over the ownership of a few pigs set her family on a path of hatred and revenge. From that day forward, along the ragged ridges of the West Virginia-Kentucky line, the Hatfields and the McCoys have operated not withing the law but within mountain codes of their own making. In 1882, when Fanny's sister Roseanna runs off with young Johnse Hatfield, the hatred between the two clans explodes.
As the killings, abductions, raids, and heartbreak escalate bitterly and senselessly, Fanny, the sole voice of reason, realizes that she is powerless to stop the fighting and must learn to rise above the petty natures of her family and neighbors to find her own way out of the hatred.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 Wonderfully written fictional history. September 8, 2008
This book gave detailed and accurate description of Appalachian mountain life. It also brought up some interesting points about the Hatfield/McCoy feud.
The Coffin Quilt: A Quick Thought On My Reading Experience With The Book January 2, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I live in the hills of West Virginia- not very far from where this story is set. When I was younger- I guess in about the 7th grade, we had WV history, which I tried not to pay any attention to as much as possible. Our class did learn about the Hatfields and McCoys, and I wish now that I had paid closer attention. Mostly because I really missed out on a good story- that I never really got a handle on until my own daughter brought home the coffin quilt book for a book report. After she read it, I decided to read it also. Such a good idea! I loved the book so much that I had to buy it for one of my friends to read. She loved it also. This book touched my heart, and I really felt for all of the characters at one point or another in the story. Its a really good read that I would recommend to anyone interested in the Hatfields and McCoys story.
 Good, but not the best Ann Rinaldi book September 9, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Coffin Quilt is a story about a family fued that went a little to far. The Hatfields and the McCoys are both large familys who have been in a fued since 1878, but becomes uncontrollable in 1882 when the main characters sister (a McCoy) runs off with a hatfield. This book is good, and definatly worth reading, but, for me at least, it is just too weird. Everybody is, or is going, mad. I found it hard to know the main character. It is a somewhat confusing, and very sad book, without a happy-everythings-alright ending. Overall, it was worth reading, but not exactly a 5 star book
Smashing! March 16, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've always loved Ann Rinaldi's books, but this has to be one of her best yet. Told from the point of view of young Fanny McCoy, this novel tells the heartbreaking tale of the famous Hatfield-McCoy Feud. It was interesting hearing the feud told from the point of view of a child, especially after having viewed the 1949 movie, Roseanna McCoy (which leaves out all but four siblings of the famous McCoy daughter and was innaccurate to boot, though still good) and reading nonfiction books concerning the events. I highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys history. Fans of Rinaldi will not be disappointed.
One of the Most Famed Feuds in American History January 20, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In modern times, people don't know much if anything pertaining to the feud between the Hatfields and the Mccoys.This book contains so much information, while educating the reader on an actual, historical event. I personally could relate to Fanny McCoy while reading, being in a family of five brothers and four sisters. Fanny is the youngest in an even larger family. I would highly reccomend The Coffin Quilt. It makes the reader feel, which is the sign of a good book.
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