We Are America: A Tribute From The Heart

As a teacher always wanting to familiarize myself with a range of YA/middle grades literature, I have read various Walter Dean Myers books, but We Are America: A Tribute From the Heart was the first picture book that I read by him. It is one of those awe-inspiring books that make you want to revisit it again and again both because of the text and the vivid paintings by none other than the author's son, Christopher Myers.

The initial pages of the book include a quote by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella accompanied by a painting followed by two-page spread, powerful author's and artist's notes printed on top of a mosaic of images, providing background and context for the book.

Then starts the heart of the book - two page spreads combining poetry and at times historical quotes, snapshots into U.S. history and cultures. Initially, the poems are told in the first person, representing various perspectives. Then the singular "I" poems shift to "we", a collective history merging from different backgrounds.

I especially like that the history and current depiction represents dichotomies, rather than solely portraying the good or the bad. Instead, it comes off as a balanced, thought-provoking experience. While younger kids would enjoy the book, the illustrations and depth of text, such as avenues for analysis to attempt to make sense of history, make it ideal for older readers as well.

With each flip of the page, I liked the book more and more. While reading, I was curious about those depicted in illustrations. There were some that I automatically recognized, but there were others that made me want to know more about who they were and/or the rationale behind the intentionality of including them. When I turned to some of the last pages and saw that the quotes were reprinted with additional background and explanations of where the quotes came from, I thought about how it was a perfect addition to an already strong text. The final page provides art notes to explain by page about the people depicted in the pictures. Just as the book sparked my curiosity, I can imagine students wanting to do additional research or inquiry as a result of reading this book.

Last night I posted about Dancing Home, by another parent-child team, and pairing the two texts together is an excellent example of complementary picture book/novel combinations. However, We Are America is versatile and aside from ideas already mentioned, it would be a good fit for many other curricular connections, including a mentor text for multi-genre writing and a background in U.S. History. It would be a perfect start of the year read aloud for a year in which the focus was on U.S. History. Then students could revisit the book multiple times throughout the year. Such a rich text!