From Publishers Weekly
Yoked together like a pair of contrary mules, Bates's 19th-century patriotic poem and Thiebaud's 20th-century irony-tinged art tug in opposite directions. At first, Thiebaud's bold, representational paintings complement "America the Beautiful" with reasonable artistic license: two trees against a fiery sunset represent "spacious skies" and "amber waves of grain"; blue-black cliffs suggest the "purple mountain majesties." But the struggle to match subsequent verses with appropriate imagery intensifies as RV's and semis zipping through a salt flat signify "a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness" and rather macabre women's masks illustrate "God mend thine every flaw." The components here seem diminished, not enhanced, by their pairing. All ages.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 1 Up?A pairing of contemporary art with evocative poetry. Bates was an early feminist whose great love of this country was the inspiration for this optimistic ballad written before the Great Depression and the World Wars. Thiebaud's paintings "chronicle those objects and landscapes of our lives that are overlooked and taken for granted, but whose style and manner are telltale signs of who we are." He is a seasoned artist with works in many major galleries in the U.S. Boyers includes well-written, insightful biographies of the poet and the artist at the end of the book. While this is an interesting artistic concept and serves as a showcase for some great modern art, the sequencing of visual material is more akin to the hanging of an exhibit than the intentional flow of images from page to page. Though a bit jarring, it is also refreshing, and offers an interesting choice for larger collections.?Alexandra Marris, Rochester Public Library, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
