The fascinating story of how Gutzon Borglum, gifted sculptor and son of immigrants, overcame tremendous obstacles to create the world's most immense stone carving--Mt. Rushmore. Full color.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Curlee (Into the Ice: The Story of Arctic Exploration) presents a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the making of Mount Rushmore. South Dakota's state historian first came up with the idea of carving figures into the Black Hills during the 1920s, a notion that was quickly taken up by one of the state's senators as a way to pay tribute to history and draw more tourists to his remote state. The original planAto carve figures representing the Old WestAwas swept aside by the sculptor commissioned for the project, the egotistical but talented John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum. Curlee's story of Borglum's 17-year involvement in the arduous project brims with details of the politics surrounding the monumentAa grassroots campaign to include Susan B. Anthony rather than Theodore Roosevelt as the fourth dignitary featured; the uproar that ensued when Borglum attempted to change Calvin Coolidge's condensed history of the United States, which the sculptor originally planned to inscribe on the monumentAas well as the logistics involved (each morning the crew had a 40-story climb to the precipice to begin work; by the job's completion, they had blasted 450,000 tons of rock). The stark, flat feel of the acrylic paintings in stony shades of gray and blue mirror the dignified aura of their subject. Exploiting each spread, Curlee conveys the sensitivity in the faces of the giant chiseled sculpture while simultaneously demonstrating a sense of scale, with the sculptor rappelling from the nose of Washington or a worker examining Roosevelt's cheek. If readers have not yet made the trip to the Black Hills, Curlee's account will likely spur them on to visit. Ages 7-10.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5-A chronological description of the creation of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, from its inception in the 1920s by a state historian in South Dakota to its completion in 1941. This attractive, oversized book features large, single- and double-page acrylic paintings. The artwork is simple and touching, providing some sense of scale and illustrating the progress of the monument. While the paintings never quite seem to capture the immensity of this undertaking, they do provide a sense of poetic achievement and national pride. The writing is factual, straightforward, and, for the most part, unexciting. While Curlee discusses sculptor Gutzon Borglum's life and involvement with the project, there is little vivid imagery of what it took to imagine and engineer its completion. The undertaking never quite comes to life. And some questions of interest remain unanswered, e.g., how were the eyes of each sculpture designed to follow the viewer? Overall, this is a visually appealing if uninspired offering.
Rosie Peasley, Empire Union School District, Modesto, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Rosie Peasley, Empire Union School District, Modesto, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
a triumph,
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This review is from: Rushmore (Hardcover)
This is the book to enchant your children and get them eager to see Mount Rushmore. Lynn Curlee's masterful illustrations and kid-interesting text combine to make a book that your kids will want to read again, and again, and again.
Harder reading level -- 3rd grade, at least. The words are not hard to decode, it's just a lot of technical information to take in. This is a masterpiece of a children's book. Do not miss it.
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