America the Beautiful [Hardcover]

Katharine Bates (Author), Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 1 and up

Wendell Minor is an extraordinarily talented fine artist who has received more than two hundred awards for his work. Authors refer to him as a "quiet genius" who creates with simplicity and elegance, a "master" at capturing the essence of the written word in vivid imagery, of creating brilliant paintings that evoke the true spirit of story and place. He has illustrated hundreds of covers for many of the most popular books of the past few decades.

Now, inspired by Katharine Lee Bates's classic verse, Minor gives readers his first picture book-beautiful visual accompaniment for an American standard. Traversing the entire nation, from the Empire State Building to the Grand Tetons, from the Alaskan coast to the Florida Everglades; encompassing multiple eras, from Pilgrims to wagon trains, from the Wright brothers to NASA, Minor takes us on a journey across land and time-literally from sea to shining sea.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Skilled watercolor and gouache artist Wendell Minor sets the lyrics to one of America's favorite songs to pictures in this lovingly patriotic tribute.

It's hard to imagine a better primer on the history or meaning behind "America the Beautiful" than this--Minor's elegant, evocative illustrations back up each line of Katharine Lee Bates' breathless prose, and an informative introduction by Minor and bios on both Bates and composer Samuel Augustus Ward provide ample background on the song's journey to cultural cult status. Surely, this is a "heartland"-centric homage, but that's no doubt the nature of the song. The images display an older, idealized America, one of absent teepees and endangered buffalos ("For purple mountain majesties/Above the fruited plain!") and white girls in covered wagons ("A thoroughfare for freedom beat/Across the wilderness"). But Minor also alludes to future hope, with a climbing space shuttle ("O beautiful for patriot dream") and the fallen WTC commemorated in lights ("Thine alabaster cities gleam/Undimmed by human tears!").

Minor proved his artistic chops in the likes of Shane and a John James Audubon biography, and those skills get put to doting use here, in a primer appropriate for young patriots everywhere. (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes

From Booklist

K-Gr. 3. Using the four verses of "America the Beautiful" as a text, this picture book celebrates the beauty and variety of the American landscape in a series of majestic scenes. Each borderless, double-page spread illustrates a phrase or stanza from the song with a watercolor-and-gouache painting. Just as they represent different places in the country, the paintings also portray different moments in time. Buffaloes graze as smoke rises from a nearby teepee; the Wright brothers' flyer skims above the sand; and two towers bathed in bluish-white light rise above the New York skyline. Minor's richly colored, well-composed paintings reflect the song's grace, dignity, and idealism, but just as impressive is his care in selecting locales that fit the song's phrases. The closing pages offer short biographies of lyricist Bates and composer Samuel Ward, the song's words and music, and an illustrated guide to each spread. A series of landscape paintings (sometimes with figures, but no real characters) may not sound like an inviting approach to a children's picture book, but these paintings are varied and accessible enough to hold a primary-grade audience, especially when the text is sung. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 1 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (May 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399238859
• ISBN-13: 978-0399238857
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #490,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great depiction of the song!, April 26, 2004

By 

Kathy Livingston (East Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: America the Beautiful (Hardcover)

This book is an excellent depiction of the song. We have been reading it with our daughter since she was 2 years old, and now she is quite familiar with the words of the song as well as with many areas of the country, major landmarks, and significant events. This is a great addition to your library.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificently illustrated version of American anthem, July 12, 2003

By 

Isabel Harding (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America the Beautiful (Hardcover)

Wendell Minor has been busy this year, having illustrated picture books documenting 2 American heroes, which were published only a few months apart. INTO THE WOODS and RACHEL tell the stories of patriots, John James Audubon and Rachel Carson, respectively, who struggled to preserve the beauty and health of their native land. Now Mr. Minor has produced another picture book of equal radiance, focusing on the country that those heroes, and he, obviously love. The author is, like Audubon and Carson, another American legend, Katharine Lee Bates. Although her name is not familiar to many people, the poem she wrote certainly is. Here the entire song--not just the first few lines that most Americans have memorized--is emblazoned above Mr. Minor's spectacular paintings. Were she alive today, Ms. Bates would surely find this book comparable to the beauty of the country she wrote about in the first place. AMERICA depicts not only the "purple mountains" and "amber waves of grain" of the first stanza, but breathtaking landscapes from every corner of the nation. The monumental natural landmarks--enormous cliffs of the West, Niagara Falls, the Grand Tetons--are shown as well as quieter, but equally striking, scenes of farmers harvesting wheat in Iowa and steamboats pushing across the mist-shrouded Mississippi River. Even the light beams in Manhattan where the World Trade Center once stood are captured forever in an elegant painting. AMERICA allows readers to visit the most far-flung and spectacular areas of the nation in only 5 minutes, so realistic and compelling are the illustrations. And seeing Bates's poem in its entirety will rekindle readers' feelings for our musical heritage, no matter how many patriotic tunes they've heard since 9/11. This book is a dignified and vibrant testimony to the greatness of this nation, worthy of being shared with all kinds of patriots, young and old, for years and years.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, June 13, 2005

By 

Occasional Reviewer (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: America the Beautiful (Hardcover)

This book is a wonderful way to introduce the song "America the Beautiful" to a child, and enjoy it yourself at the same time. Wendell Minor has done an outstanding job of illustrating the words to this song by painting pictures of real places to match a couple of song lines at a time. It makes one feel like they are being swept across the country as they read or sing the words, as if we were seeing exactly what Katherine Lee Bates was seeing when she wrote the original poem. I also like the fact that at the end of the book there is a spread which again shows a small picture of each of the illustrations and then tells the reader where this place really is. Overall, a very good way to learn/enjoy the song.