Liberty's Journey [Hardcover]

Kelly DiPucchio (Author), Richard Egielski (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Lady Liberty has welcomed immigrants to New York for more than one hundred years-but she's never traveled beyond her island. She's curious to see the country that has become home to the millions who have passed beneath her torch. She wants to go on an old-fashioned road trip! So one foggy morning, the giant Lady tiptoes off her pedestal and begins her journey. Down alleyways, along railroad tracks, through cities and small towns, across deserts, and over mountains, she greets surprised and delighted Americans. The country is as captivating, as Lady Liberty knew it would be, but New Yorkers miss her terribly. How can they persuade her to come home, where she belongs?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3–Lady Liberty takes a stroll across America in search of the immigrants who passed by her on their way to other parts of the country. She ends up in San Francisco, but she is lonely for Manhattan: "She missed her home, where hope was born." New Yorkers, in turn, send a sack full of mail imploring the Lady to come back. Overjoyed, she arrives home to a ticker-tape welcome. This disappointing story in verse takes its stiff heroine through farmlands, desert, and cattle country–"her joy renewed by distant places/filled with children's hopeful faces." While Egielski's warm and vibrant illustrations depict Lady Liberty as an involved and humanlike participant in the lives of the people she meets, the text fails to establish her as anything more than an enormous silent statue who is out of place. She never reacts to the people she meets on her journey, and merely stares with a kind look upon seeing old and new immigrants. The whole plot just doesn't make much sense.–Jane Barrer, Washington Square Village Creative Steps, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 1-2. In this sentimental, rhyming paean to Lady Liberty, the 151-foot-tall Manhattan statue yearns to breathe free, so she hops off her pedestal in search of amber waves of grain. Traveling west to San Francisco, she is renewed by the sights and sounds, but distraught New Yorkers concoct a plan to lure their Lady back. After a boy brings her a bag of letters imploring her to come home, she plods back through the fruited plains to a cheering crowd of New Yorkers. The singsong verse is uninventive ("But one day, Lady Liberty / wished that she could roam and see / the people who had come and gone; / the land they built their dreams upon"), but the fanciful notion of the statue coming to life and tromping around America like a lost giant will no doubt appeal to readers. Egielski's paintings effectively infuse emotion into the silent statue, and the soft American landscapes are as dreamily nostalgic as the story. An author's note in the back offers a brief history of sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi's larger-than-life monument. Karin Snelson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; First Edition edition (September 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078681876X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786818761
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 7.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #530,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kelly DiPucchio is the award-winning author of several children's books, including New York Times bestseller, GRACE FOR PRESIDENT, and THE SANDWICH SWAP, a book co-authored for Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, which President Bill Clinton called "a delightful story." Kelly has been a featured author/speaker at numerous schools, public libraries, universities, and conferences such as: the International Reading Association, Michigan Reading Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. You can visit her online at www.kellydipucchio.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liberty's Journey has touched my heart!, September 6, 2004

By 

Lee S (Gladwin, MI United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Liberty's Journey (Hardcover)

Each time I read this book I get a warm feeling when I think of all the immigrants who love and depend on Lady Liberty every day. I am so glad she is "back" on her pedestal at the end of the book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Represents the Heart of America, September 7, 2004

By 

Sassy (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liberty's Journey (Hardcover)

Liberty's Journey is a moving adventure about the Statue coming to life and seeing all of the states and people she stands for. This book reminds me of the true patroitism, commitment, freedom, and generosity of our democratic America. We take it all for granted. Children can get a real glimpse of who and what our statue stands for through this beautiful story and the brilliant way it was written. The outstanding artwork shows the true Liberty, (all she needed was a personality that relates to the children as well as adults). I think that families, libraries, and schools alike would benefit by adding this work of art to their bookshelves. Liberty's Journey represents the heart of America!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liberty's Enlightenment, June 20, 2007

By 

becmap (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liberty's Journey (Hardcover)

This book earns a place in our "Hall of Fame." It has been read for 3 years now and memorized time and again. It inspired my [...]to memorize the New Colossus. She was Lady Liberty for Halloween for two years now. The story was very well written in a flowing, poetic, and rhythmical context. It is a great introduction to our nation's beauties, people and spirit. It is also amusing. We have a ticker tape parade every time we read this book! Thank you, Ms. Dipucchio, for giving this treasure to the world.