A history of America that acknowledges both the ideal and the imperfections of our nation starts in the voice of a Lakota Indian speaking of the span of time Native peoples have occupied this land, and ends with expressions of the meaning of America for all people and generations. Walter Dean Myers’s narrative can be read as a single poem or multiple offerings, each one exploring a different facet of America from past to present. Myers moves chronologically forward in time as he reveals defining events in the history of a nation still emerging. Christopher Myers’s illustrations appear like murals on each page spread, offering a stunning panorama of the nation’s history juxtaposed with images of who we are today. “And from the tensions, / From the struggle between conscience / And human frailty / Between the great hope of tomorrow / And the forever hunger of today / We have found our nation.” The opening author’s and illustrator’s notes are as insightful and inspired as the words and images that follow them in a book that offers riches from cover to cover. (Age 12 and older)

New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and Caldecott Honor artist Christopher Myers, the father-son team who created harlem, celebrate the freedom dream that is America: our struggles, our ideals, and our hope that we can live up to them.

What is it to be an American?

To live in a strange and beautiful land of complexity, with a tumultuous history of epic proportions, among the people who were here first, who came after, who will come tomorrow.

We were the youth that could not fail
Planting our high ideals in virgin lands and eager hearts
Making vows forever brighter than the story we would live . . .

The lyrical free verse evocative of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and striking mural-like paintings are a testimonial to the heart and soul of our country: its ordinary and extraordinary people and the monumental events that have shaped our nation. With layered, sweeping panoramic paintings and text rich with historical allusion, this stunning picture book features passionate writings and vivid portraits of political Americans, from Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief, to Abraham Lincoln to Jimi Hendrix.