A deeply informative and gorgeously illustrated look at the Statue of Liberty, from award-winning nonfiction master Robert Byrd. America's most iconic national symbol was a gift from France to the United States--provided America raised the money for the pedestal on which it was to stand. Urged on by the publisher Joseph Pulitzer, it was raised, largely with the help of children, in the first example of a crowd sourced fund-raising campaign. This book tells the story of the best gift ever: how it was designed, created, transported, and then finally erected on its pedestal in the entrance to New York Harbor. Readable text is enhanced with illustrations chock-full of historical detail in Bob Byrd's lighthearted, witty style.
How did 121,000 Americans save their most beloved icon? Here is an inspiring story about the power we have when we all work together! "All rise to this evocative, empowering offering." -- Kirkus Reviews On America's 100th birthday, the people of France built a giant gift! It was one of the largest statues the world had ever seen -- and she weighed as much as 40 elephants! And when she arrived on our shores in 250 pieces, she needed a pedestal to hold her up. Few of America's millionaires were willing to foot the bill. Then, Joseph Pulitzer (a poor Hungarian immigrant-cum-newspaper mogul) appealed to his fellow citizens. He invited them to contribute whatever they could, no matter how small an amount, to raise funds to mount this statue. The next day, pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters poured in. Soon, Pulitzer's campaign raised enough money to construct the pedestal. And with the help of everyday Americans (including many thousands of schoolchildren!) the Statue of Liberty rose skyward, torch ablaze, to welcome new immigrants for a life of freedom and opportunity! Chana Stiefel's charming and immediate writing style is perfectly paired with Chuck Groenink's beautiful, slyly humorous illustrations. Back matter with photographs included.
In parallel stories, a Ukrainian Jewish family prepares to emigrate to the United States in the late 1800s, and Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designs, raises funds for, and builds the Statue of Liberty in honor of the U.S. centennial.
“If you think you know all there is to know about the Statue of Liberty, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”—The New York Times When the crated monument first arrived in New York Harbor, few could have foreseen the central place the Statue of Liberty would come to occupy in the American imagination. In this book, cultural historian and scholar of French history Edward Berenson tells the little-known stories of the statue’s improbable beginnings, transatlantic connections, and the changing meanings it has held for each successive generation. He tells of the French intellectuals who decided for their own domestic political reasons to pay tribute to American liberty; the initial, less-than-enthusiastic American response; and the countless difficulties before the statue was at last unveiled to the public in 1886. The trials of its inception and construction, however, are only half of the story. Berenson also shows how the statue’s symbolically indistinct, neoclassical form has allowed Americans to interpret its meaning in diverse ways—as representing the emancipation of the slaves, Tocqueville’s idea of orderly liberty, opportunity for “huddled masses,” and, in the years since 9/11, the freedom and resilience of New York City and the United States in the face of terror. Includes photos and illustrations “Endlessly fascinating.”—Louisville Courier-Journal
Lady Liberty has welcomed immigrants to New York for more than one hundred years-but she's never traveled beyond her island. She's curious to see the country that has become home to the millions who have passed beneath her torch. She wants to go on an old-fashioned road trip! So one foggy morning, the giant Lady tiptoes off her pedestal and begins her journey. Down alleyways, along railroad tracks, through cities and small towns, across deserts, and over mountains, she greets surprised and delighted Americans. The country is as captivating, as Lady Liberty knew it would be, but New Yorkers miss her terribly. How can they persuade her to come home, where she belongs?
"This rich story reminds us that America can be at its best as a melting pot. A page-turner for all the right reasons." —VINCE VAWTER, Newbery Honor–winning author of Paperboy In this gripping and poignant companion to Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner Black Radishes, Gustave faces racism and anti-Semitism in New York City during World War II, but ultimately finds friendship and hope. After escaping the Germans in Nazi-occupied France, Gustave and his family have made it to America at last. But life is not easy in New York. Gustave’s clothes are all wrong, he can barely speak English, and he is worried about his best friend, Marcel, who is in danger back in France. Then there is September Rose, the most interesting girl in school, who doesn’t seem to want to be friends with him. Gustave is starting to notice that not everyone in America is treated equally, and his new country isn’t everything he’d expected. But he isn’t giving up. Julia Ward Howe Honor Award Sydney Taylor Notable Book Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year Junior Library Guild Selection "I love everything about this poignant story, especially the gorgeous prose, which brings to life such an important slice of American history in a way I haven't seen before. Simply put, this heartfelt book is a masterpiece."-SHANA BURG, author of A Thousand Never Evers and Laugh with the Moon “The everyday details of the story guide readers, allowing them to enjoy following Gustave’s entry into the United States and his growth toward appreciating all that’s ahead for him in his new home. . . . Strong historical content, rich descriptions, and smart subtleties about the links between history and current events.”—School Library Journal “Readers may gradually start to think of the characters as close friends. . . . The conflict might feel like it's happening to people the readers have always known. A sweet book that readers will find sneaks up on them.”—Kirkus Reviews "Well paced with fully realized characters, this provides a textured look at race, refugees, war, and the process of creating a new life."--Booklist Praise for Black Radishes A Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner A Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year An Instructor Magazine Best Kids’ Book, Historical Fiction A Massachusetts Book Award Must-Read Book “An empowering, suspenseful story of a unique young boy with cunning, patience, and courage.”—Francisco X. Stork, author of Marcelo in the Real World “A fascinating, deftly gripping tale that reminds readers, young or old, of events we must never forget.”—Zilpha Keatley Snyder, three-time Newbery Honor winner and author of The Egypt Game “A vivid and moving story about a Jewish family’s efforts to escape the Nazis, seen through the eyes of a clear-signed and sensitive young boy.”—Annika Thor, winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder Award “Black Radishes transforms the past into a gripping story.”—Kit Pearson, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Awake and Dreaming
The world's most famous sculpture, the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Enlightening the World, rises to a height of 305 feet from the base of her pedestal to the top of the golden flame of her torch. Conceived, designed, and originally built in France, she was unveiled on her new island home in 1886. The postcard trade, still in its infancy, embraced the icon, and Miss Liberty's commanding figure soon appeared on millions of postcards. In this book, one will see the statue from many angles--profiles, long shots, close-ups, aerials, torch views, and more.
Conceived in the aftermath of the American Civil War and the grief that swept France over the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Statue of Liberty has been a potent symbol of the nation's highest ideals since it was unveiled in 1886. Dramatically situated on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) in the harbor of New York City, the statue has served as a reminder for generations of immigrants of America's long tradition as an asylum for the poor and the persecuted. Although it is among the most famous sculptures in the world, the story of its creation is little known. In Enlightening the World, Yasmin Sabina Khan provides a fascinating new account of the design of the statue and the lives of the people who created it, along with the tumultuous events in France and the United States that influenced them. Khan's narrative begins on the battlefields of Gettysburg, where Lincoln framed the Civil War as a conflict testing whether a nation "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal... can long endure." People around the world agreed with Lincoln that this question—and the fate of the Union itself—affected the "whole family of man." Inspired by the Union's victory and stunned by Lincoln's death, Édouard-René Lefebvre de Laboulaye, a legal scholar and noted proponent of friendship between his native France and the United States, conceived of a monument to liberty and the exemplary form of government established by the young nation. For Laboulaye and all of France, the statue would be called La Liberté Éclairant le Monde—Liberty Enlightening the World. Following the statue's twenty-year journey from concept to construction, Khan reveals in brilliant detail the intersecting lives that led to the realization of Laboulaye's dream: the Marquis de Lafayette; Alexis de Tocqueville; the sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, whose commitment to liberty and self-government was heightened by his experience of the Franco-Prussian War; the architect Richard Morris Hunt, the first American to study architecture at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris; and the engineer Gustave Eiffel, who pushed the limits for large-scale metal construction. Also here are the contributions of such figures as Senators Charles Sumner and Carl Schurz, the artist John La Farge, the poet Emma Lazarus, and the publisher Joseph Pulitzer. While exploring the creation of the statue, Khan points to possible sources—several previously unexamined—for the design. She links the statue's crown of rays with Benjamin Franklin's image of the rising sun and makes a clear connection between the broken chain under Lady Liberty's foot and the abolition of slavery. Through the rich story of this remarkable national monument, Enlightening the World celebrates both a work of human accomplishment and the vitality of liberty.
Between 1820 and 1913, approximately 16,000 black people left the United States to start new lives in Liberia, Africa, in what was at the time the largest out-migration in US history. When Tolbert Major, a former Kentucky slave and single father, was offered his own chance for freedom, he accepted. He, several family members, and seventy other people boarded the Luna on July 5, 1836. After they arrived in Liberia, Tolbert penned a letter to his former owner, Ben Major: "Dear Sir, We have all landed on the shores of Africa and got into our houses.... None of us have been taken with the fever yet." Drawing on extensive research and fifteen years' worth of surviving letters, author Susan E. Lindsey illuminates the trials and triumphs of building a new life in Liberia, where settlers were free, but struggled to acclimate themselves to an unfamiliar land, coexist with indigenous groups, and overcome disease and other dangers. Liberty Brought Us Here: The True Story of American Slaves Who Migrated to Liberia explores the motives and attitudes of colonization supporters and those who lived in the colony, offering perspectives beyond the standard narrative that colonization was driven solely by racism or forced exile.
