From a father-son team comes a gorgeous picture book that "pays tribute to the variety of America as well as to its promise—in Christopher Myers's words, 'the question mark of it.'" (Washington Post) "An inclusive, unblinkered variation of patriotism." (New York Times)
With sweeping panoramic paintings and text rich with historical allusion, this stunning picture book features passionate writings and vivid portraits of political Americans, from Shawnee chief Tecumseh to Abraham Lincoln to Jimi Hendrix. This is a book to share at home or in the classroom, sure to spark questions and engage students, especially in third through fifth grade.
New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and Caldecott Honor artist Christopher Myers celebrate the freedom dream that is America: our struggles, our ideals, and our hope that we can live up to them. What is it to be an American? To live in a strange and beautiful land of complexity, with a tumultuous history of epic proportions, among the people who were here first, who came after, who will come tomorrow.
Over the centuries, from a blank canvas of mountains, plains, and canyons, the American landscape has been richly carved by revolution, progress, and possibility. Yet its story is still being written.
With graceful, lyrical prose and evocative paintings, Newbery Honor author Walter Dean Myers and Coretta Scott King Honor artist Christopher Myers, the father-son team who created Harlem, pay tribute to the spirit and soul that is America.
New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and Caldecott Honor artist Christopher Myers, the father-son team who created harlem, celebrate the freedom dream that is America: our struggles, our ideals, and our hope that we can live up to them.
What is it to be an American?
To live in a strange and beautiful land of complexity, with a tumultuous history of epic proportions, among the people who were here first, who came after, who will come tomorrow.
We were the youth that could not fail
Planting our high ideals in virgin lands and eager hearts
Making vows forever brighter than the story we would live . . .
The lyrical free verse evocative of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and striking mural-like paintings are a testimonial to the heart and soul of our country: its ordinary and extraordinary people and the monumental events that have shaped our nation. With layered, sweeping panoramic paintings and text rich with historical allusion, this stunning picture book features passionate writings and vivid portraits of political Americans, from Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief, to Abraham Lincoln to Jimi Hendrix.
Praise for Ida B. Wells: "Accessible to younger elementary audiences."
