Book Review: America the Beautiful: Together We Stand

America the Beautiful: Together We Stand

poem by Katharine Lee Bates

illustrated by Chris Soentpiet, Mary GrandPre, Raul Colon, Sonia Lynn Sadler, Bryan Collier, Jon J Muth, Yuyi Morales, Diane Goode, LeUyen Pham, and John Hendrix

This tribute to the poem and song, "America the Beautiful," features a different illustration for each line of the first stanza of the song from a truly impressive collection of artists. The art in this book displays an incredible amount of diversity which left my heart thoroughly warmed.

Beautifully designed, each double-page spread includes a white bar on the side, bordered by red stars between which is an iconic American symbol and quote from a U.S. president. The name of the illustrator is printed underneath.

From Chris Soentpiet's realistic and expressive Independence Day celebrators, to Raul Colon's whimsical, sporty youngsters (who look to be a part of the purple mountains majesty), to LeUyen Pham's lovely collection of acrobatic children whose clothes make up the U.S. flag, it is obvious that this project chose to intentionally reflect the incredible diversity of the America people.

A great read for fun, learning about the United States (includes backmatter on National Landmarks and Symbols, American democracy, the full lyrics to the song, and a dust cover that when reversed is a chart of the United States presidents), or for celebrating a patriotic holiday, this is one you don't want to miss.