Amazing Places - Hardcover

Lee Bennett Hopkins

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1600606539 ISBN 13: 9781600606533

Publisher: Lee & Low Books, 2015

Synopsis

In this collection of original poems, acclaimed anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins brings together fourteen selections that celebrate through poetic imagery some of the amazingly diverse places in our nation. These include Denali National Park, the Oneida Nation Museum, San Francisco s Chinatown, the Grand Canyon, the Ringling Circus Museum, Harlem, the Liberty Bell, Fenway Park, and more. The poems as a whole take readers on an exciting multiethnic travelogue around the United States and encourage a positive appreciation of our country s historical, environmental, and cultural heritage. The inspiring and insightful poems were created by some of the best-known authors writing for children, including Alma Flor Ada, Jaime Adoff, Joseph Bruchac, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Nikki Grimes, J. Patrick Lewis, Jane Medina, and Linda Sue Park. Captivating illustrations by award-winning illustrators Chris Soentpiet and Christy Hale feature well-researched settings that infuse the poems with vibrant life and atmosphere. Readers of all ages will want to visit each amazing place again and again.

About this title

About the Author:

Lee Bennett Hopkins is an acclaimed poet and writer, and has created numerous poetry anthologies for young readers. He is the recipient of the 2009 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, which honors his body of work, and founder of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and the Lee Bennett Hopkins/IRA Promising Poet Award. Hopkins s books have won many honors, including ALA Notable Children s Books, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, Children s Choices, American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, Christopher Award, and New York Public Library Best Children s Books. He lives in Cape Coral, Florida.

Review:

In this companion to 2010'sAmazing Faces, 14 poems celebrate landmarks and attractions across the United States, such as the Grand Canyon, Fenway Park, and San Francisco's Chinatown. In the tender opening poem from Janet S. Wong, a girl treasures a night camping with her mother in Alaska's Denali National Park: "When the fire is spitting ready, / she reaches/ in the bag, rustling, / and hands me/ one big, fat, luscious/ marshmallow." Joan Bransfield Graham's concrete poem, "Sandy Hook Lighthouse," is both written from the lighthouse's perspective and shaped like one: "Wild/ storms rage, / lightning crackles, / nothing/ deters me./ I have/ stood on/ duty in this/ place for/ more than two/ centuries." The far-ranging locations and multicultural, multigenerational cast help create a broadly appealing testament to the American landscape and people.

-- (09/15/2015)

This companion to Amazing Faces (2015) is a tribute to United States landmarks and adds illustrator Hale as a collaborator. Eleven states are highlighted, ranging from Alaska to Kansas to Massachusetts. San Francisco's Chinatown, the Grand Canyon, the State Fair of Texas, and the Oneida Nation Museum are among the American treasures featured alongside poetry penned by an eclectic representation of treasured Americans of many ethnicities. The selections' wide appeal invites intergenerational sharing, particularly in the classroom or at family gatherings. For example, in addition to the reader-engaging, playful visual formatting of Prince Redcloud's "Niagara," this poem also lends itself to multivoice readings: "falls / and / falls / forever-ever / flowing / falling / falling / cascading / crashing / dipping / dropping / plunging / tumbling / stop...." Soentpiet and Hale's exceptional pencil-and-digital illustrations reinforce the word pictures evoked by the poetry. Light and shadow, skillfully rendered with the look of watercolor paint, play across the scenes. A historical glossary is appended, and the map of the United States indicating each landmark's location is included on the endpapers. Amazing, indeed: American readers will come away both proud of what the country has to offer and eager to visit the sites in person.

-- (09/15/2015)

About this edition

• Publisher: Lee & Low Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1600606539
• ISBN 13: 9781600606533
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Chris Soentpiet, Christy Hale