Book Descriptions
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.
From the Publisher
Have you seen my country?
Seen my magic skies?
Seen my mighty waters?
Have you seen my land?
Have you seen my country?
Seen my wings abound?
Seen my water creatures?
Seen my beasts and fowl?
Have you seen my people?
We hail from every shore.
Have you seen my homeland?
Have you seen my country?
Have you seen my America?
In this stunning tribute to our country, Coretta Scott King Award winners Ashley Bryan and Jan Spivey Gilchrist remind us that America's strength and beauty come from the diversity of its people, wildlife, and landscape.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.