We Are America: Tribute from the Heart

(Hardback)

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Description

New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and Caldecott Honor artist Christopher Myers, the father-son team who created harlem, celebrate the freedom dream that is America: our struggles, our ideals, and our hope that we can live up to them.

What is it to be an American

To live in a strange and beautiful land of complexity, with a tumultuous history of epic proportions, among the people who were here first, who came after, who will come tomorrow.

We were the youth that could not fail
Planting our high ideals in virgin lands and eager hearts
Making vows forever brighter than the story we would live . . .

The lyrical free verse evocative of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and striking mural-like paintings are a testimonial to the heart and soul of our country: its ordinary and extraordinary people and the monumental events that have shaped our nation. With layered, sweeping panoramic paintings and text rich with historical allusion, this stunning picture book features passionate writings and vivid portraits of political Americans, from Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief, to Abraham Lincoln to Jimi Hendrix.

Reviews

"The Myers team shares their heartfelt and stirring vision of an America flawed but filled with promises and dreams. Like weavers connecting warp and woof, father threads lofty words and son paints seamless pictures. Each double-page spread contains a brief poem and usually a quote from a relevant document or person. A mural rendered in pastels spans both pages. Homage is paid to young people; Native Americans; immigrants from Europe, Africa and Asia; laborers, protesters, soldiers and performers." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A soul-searching, free-verse poem examining the people, ideals, and promise of America. In opening, Walter Dean Myers writes, 'No words here have been penned lightly, no flag waved mindlessly, ' and his introspective reflections offer proof. Few will be unmoved by this stirring and provocative collaboration." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"As Whitman turned to free verse to explore the character and complexity of America in the 19th century, so Walter Dean Myers employs it in the 21st. From the Lakota Indian watching his father 'in the curl of legend' and the refugee whose freedom dream 'lay just beyond the next wave' to the diverse assembly of famous figures depicted in concluding montages, the Myers grapple with the meaning of the country's founding principles." -- School Library Journal

"This heart-on-its-sleeve collaboration between writer father and illustrator son mixes stirring verse with expressive panoramas that mix thematic events across time: African slaves, Chinese railroad laborers, and Detroit factory workers in one tableau. We Are America offers an inclusive, ublinkered variation of patriotism." -- New York Times Book Review

"We Are America pays tribute to the variety of America as well as to its promise--in Christopher Myers's words, 'the question mark of it.' The images and text are vibrant, featuring paintings that evoke the sweep of history, provocative poetry, and pertinent quotes. Walter Dean Myers finds beauty and valor in America's contradictions while acknowledging a less-than-perfect union." -- Washington Post

Praise for Muhammad Ali: "The spirit of prizefighter Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius Clay, permeates the action-filled pages." -- School Library Journal

Praise for Ida B. Wells: "Important and inspiring." -- School Library Journal (starred review)

Praise for Ida B. Wells: "Masterful." -- ALA Booklist

Praise for Ida B. Wells: "Accessible to younger elementary audiences." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Author Bio

Michael L. Printz Award winner and Margaret A. Edwards Award recipient Walter Dean Myers is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award. He is the author of Handbook for Boys; Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam; Monster; Bad Boy: A Memoir; and the Newbery Honor Books, Scorpions and Somewhere in the Darkness. He lives in Jersey City, NJ, with his family. You can visit Walter Dean Myers online at www.walterdeanmyersbooks.com.