Customer Reviews

Alaska (America the Beautiful, Second)

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I believe I have flown over Alaska flying back from Japan to California, however I am not sure about it. However, I have not been to Alaska, which makes it the only one of the 50 states left for me to visit. On my honeymoon several years back I made a point of traveling through Maine and dipping into Rhode Island in driving from Boston to Hartford just to make it state number 49. My expectation is to do a cruise, because everybody I know who has taken a cruise to Alaska has raved about it, so I think that will be the way to go. In her introduction to this America the Beautiful Second Series volume, Donna Walsh Shepherd makes it clear that are plenty of reasons to visit even if it is not on your places-to-visit list. Chapter One, "Alaska--A Great Land," sets up the dichotomy that exist in the largest state (and second least populated), a land that has both temperate rain forests and frozen deserts.

The next three chapters of this volume look at the history of the place that was the first part of North America to be populated. Chapter Two, "Coming to the New Continent," starts 7,000 years ago when people first left their homes in Asia and walked east to Alaska, and ends with Seward's Folly as the United States bought Alaska for $7.2 million dollars (2 cents an acre) in 1867. Chapter Three, "From Gold to War," covers from the discovery of gold in 1848 to what happened in World War II in the north. Chapter Four, "North to the Future," starts with Alaska's statehood in 1959 as the 49th state and ends with the importance of the black gold of oil to Alaska.

The "Spectacular Nature" of Alaska's geography is covered in Chapter Five, focusing more on the parklands and animals than the six distinct regions. Chapter Six, "Cities, Towns, and Villages," contrasts life in the large cities of Alaska with that in the bush communities (Nome got its name because a British navy cartographer creating maps from ships' charts misread the handwriting that said "?name" to mean "Nome"). Chapter Seven, "Government by the People," talks about what politics are like in a state where a few votes can decide an election. This is also where young students get to learn about the state symbols (the bowhead whale is the state marine mammal, but the state land mammal is the moose). If you cannot guess what the state sport is you are just not paying attention.

The economy of Alaska is covered in Chapter Eight, "Making a Living," which looks at the abundant natural resources and tourism (there is a list of the top-ten-most-visited places to help you plan ahead). You have to wait for this book's recipe until Chapter Nine, "Who Are Those Alaskans?" That would be citrus broiled Alaska salmon, which I am going to have to try (I poached salmon last month, I can handle this). Chapter Ten, "Alaskan Art and Alaskan Fun," starts with the idea that Mother Nature is the best artist in Alaska, but also covers native and winter art. Of course, the Iditarod shows up here as well. The back of the book has the expected Timeline, where U.S. and Alaska state history run in parallel columns, and the pages of Fast Facts with all sorts of statistics that young students can use researching the state. There are also lists of books, organizations, and Internet sites where students can go To Find Out More.

The American the Beautiful Second Series books are filled with color photographs of Alaska, original maps on things like topography and population density (by borough), and dozens of informative sidebars. These are always the treat in these books, and because there are not a lot of people up there in Alaska, Shepherd goes into some of them in some depth. There is a two-page spread on Alaska's current political leaders, whereas the life of a Salmon only gets a single page. But young readers will also find out about Gold Rush characters such as Klondike Kate, the Chilkoot Trail, Blue Babe the frozen steppe bison, and Jewel Kilcher. Teachers should take advantage of this series to have their students research the various states with an actual book (do they still do that?).