Ready to ring in the new year? Sing with me now – I’m pretty sure you know the words to this one: “O beautiful for spacious skies …” Yes, the patriotic classic gets a brand new kiddie book … with phenomenal illustrations created by a long list of award-winning artists who each command a line of the 1893 poem by pioneering poet/professor Katharine Lee Bates.
Every illustrated-stanza-double-paged-spread also includes a pithy presidential quote, from George Washington to Barack Obama. No worries – the choices are most definitely non-partisan: Jimmy Carter, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, JFK, FDR and his (fifth) cousin Teddy Roosevelt, and George H.W. Bush, all get a say. And, just in case you’re feeling like you’re missing a favorite president, the whole book cover cleverly opens up on the other side to showcase all 44 POTUSes!
The awe-inspiring result might represent a rather different U.S. of A. than perhaps our forefathers envisioned centuries ago, but America the Beautiful is nothing less than stupendous. Take that cover, for instance: the always-delight-inducing LeUyen Pham‘s vision for ” … with brotherhood …” couldn’t be more inclusive, not to mention accurate for what 21st-century America looks like. And, call me crazy (many have), but I like to think that’s young Sasha Obama reaching for the stars! Go, girl, go!
To quote our favorite peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter: “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” The perfect words to start a thus-far perfect, brand new year. Here’s to a happy, merry, healthy 2013 to all indeed!
Tidbit: Can I just say that certain folks in the publishing world had major faith in Obama’s re-election??!! The book (which pubs today) arrived in my mailbox quite a bit before November 6, 2012. The bottom right picture on the POTUS grid of the inside-side-of-the-cover – specifically the spot for the current president – just happens to be none other than Barack Obama … leaving no room whatsoever for anyone but. I’m just saying …
Readers: Children
Published: 2013
Being a Luddite, I don’t play video games. Although I should confess that growing up in the 1970s (*gasp!*), ours was the first house in the neighborhood to get Pong, then Atari, then an Apple II. Contrary as I am, all that early technology probably made me the Luddite I am today in old age!
When Alvin Ho gets scared, he can’t seem to talk … especially at school. Unfortunately, he’s frightened of just about everything, which is really not a good thing when you’re supposed to be a big second-grader! But family and friends – including an eye-patch-wearing feisty little girl named Flea – help him find his voice, Shakespeare curses and all! Delightful, laugh-out-loud-fun indeed!
All the many sounds in a little boy’s happy life are caught in rhythmic sing-along songs. But the real draw – no pun intended – here is the utter joy captured in the little boy’s face in 
Even while his energetic young body is capable of many things, Little Badger still has much to learn from Old Badger’s love and experience.
A rootin’, tootin’, foot-stompin’ porcine party to tickle your dancing feet.
An adorable skunk goes to school for the first time, only to be ostracized by the other animal children because of her pungent odor. But watch out for the underdog – in this case, that should be underskunk – because she proves herself to be a hero and saves the day.
Touching remembrances of a little girl’s mother when she herself was a little girl. And yes, it’s one of those books that puts a real lump in the throat when you read it with your kids – and gently reminds you of the most important priorities in life.
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