ALA Booklist (Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 1999)

Fourteen poems, 12 of them commissioned for this collection, celebrate the lives of famous Americans, including Sacagawea, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Neil Armstrong. Each poem appears on a left-hand page facing a bordered portrait painted in a flat, naive style and centering subjects against backgrounds that reflect something significant in their lives. Ending the book, two pages of notes feature a paragraph of information about each person featured in the verse. The strongest among the poems is Alice Schertle's Abe, which leaves readers with a powerful image of Lincoln wrapping his strong hands / around a nation / trying to hold the bleeding halves / together / until they healed. Some of the other poets represented include Lee Bennett Hopkins, Nikki Grimes, X. J. Kennedy, J. Patrick Lewis, and Jane Yolen. Teachers looking for poetry to enhance social-studies units will find several good choices here. Notes on the lives of each subject round out the treatment. (Reviewed March 15, 1999)

Horn Book (Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 1999)

Sacajawea, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, and Langston Hughes are some of the sixteen Americans whose lives are celebrated in this collection. Poets include Jane Yolen, Nikki Grimes, J. Patrick Lewis, and Alice Schertle. Each poem faces an oil portrait of its subject rendered in a folk-art style. Brief biographical information about each person is appended.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8Hopkins has added another engaging collection to his impressive list of anthologies. This one gathers poems about 16 significant Americans. The volume opens with Lawrence Schimels energetic This Bell Rings for Liberty about Paul Revere: I quench the heated metal shell/and fiery red begins to fade,/the way we drove Redcoats to sea/and quenched them from our homes and land. Alice Shertles Abe conveys in free verse the sorrow and power of the man, concluding with a breath-taking image: wrapping his strong hands/around a nation,/trying to hold the bleeding halves/together/until they healed. Selections by Nikki Grimes, X. J. Kennedy, and Jane Yolen bring other individuals to life through a range of poetic forms. There is a good balance of men and women represented as well as a variety of personalities from Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks to Neil Armstrong and Langston Hughes. Hopkinss eloquent introduction praises the power of poetry. Concluding Notes on the Lives give readers useful biographical information. Full-page portraits feature Staubs distinctive, flat, primitive style, and their backgrounds have details particular to the subject: laboratory bottles for Thomas Edison, people-filled stands for Babe Ruth, a Harlem scene for Langston Hughes. A winning combination of poems and illustrations.Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.