Book Description
for My America by Jan Spivey Gilchrist and Ashley Bryan
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
“Have you seen my country? / Seen my magic skies?” Jan Spivey Gilchrist celebrates America’s land and its people in a stirring poem that is imaginatively illustrated in two strikingly different styles. Alternate page spreads feature an image by Gilchrist and by illustrator Ashley Bryan. Gilchrist’s paintings, in lovely, muted tones, feature images of African American children set against backdrops that usually depict the natural world. Bryan’s bright, vibrant illustrations are stylized renderings of landscapes and living creatures, from birds to beasts to human beings. Both artists incorporate people of many colors and cultures in their final images in a book that illuminates the best of what America can be. (Ages 5–8)
CCBC Choices 2008. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2008. Used with permission.