Hanging Off Jefferson's Nose: Growing Up On Mount Rushmore

by Tina Nichols Coury, Sally Wern Comport (Illustrator)

Overview

Growing up in the shadow of Mount Rushmore

Lincoln Borglum was a young boy when his father, the great sculptor Gutzon Borglum, suggested to a group of South Dakota businessmen that he should carve the faces of four presidents into a side of a mountain as an attraction for tourists. But Mount Rushmore would never be finished by Gutzon. It would be his son who would complete the fourteen-year task and present America with one of its most iconic symbols.

A California Reading Association Eureka! Honor Book Award-winner

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803737310
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/10/2012
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1030L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Tina Nichols Coury—also known as The Rushmore Kid—is an artist and author who spent several years researching this book.

Sally Wern Comport has received numerous honors, including The Society of Illustrators,Communication Arts, Print magazine, How magazine, and many Addy awards. She has illustrated several books for young readers.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–6—What would it be like to be the son of the man who was the sculptor of Mount Rushmore? Lincoln Borglum was only 12 when his father took the commission. As he grew up, he learned about every aspect of the project, and eventually, at age 26, became the superintendent under his father. When Ghutzon Borglum died suddenly from complications of surgery, Lincoln was ready to step in and bring the project to a satisfying conclusion. This slightly fictionalized narrative of Borglum's life is engaging and informative. Coury includes details about how the monument was made, working conditions, equipment, and techniques. Although this is a biography, there is as much information about how the mountain was actually sculpted as in Judith Jango-Cohen's Mount Rushmore (Lerner, 2011) or Dana Meachem Rau's Mount Rushmore (Compass Point, 2002). Comport's acrylic and pastel illustrations do a good job of capturing the spirit of the text. The pictures of the mountain and scenery seem almost photorealistic, while the people are slightly less detailed and more stylized. The difference reinforces the grandeur and permanence of the sculpture while portraying the varying emotions of the people. This is an interesting biography with good curriculum tie-in potential.—Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT

School Library Journal

You're a dutiful son; your father, renowned sculptor Gutzon Borglum, designed the presidential monuments on Mount Rushmore. You finish the job when your father dies, but history will ignore you. This book's aim is to rectify history's misstep. It takes readers from Lincoln Borglum's shy childhood to the beginning of the project in 1927, when he was a teen, and on through its completion 14 years later. Lincoln was deeply involved, working at many grueling tasks alongside hundreds of crewmen. Readers learn that Gutzon designed a Hall of Records, never constructed, to be built behind the sculptures. They also discover that Jefferson's head was once carved on a different site on the mountain but had to be demolished and reconstructed elsewhere. Lincoln did swing under a president's nose, although, despite the title, the author doesn't confirm it was Jefferson's. Mount Rushmore commemorates four presidents; this serviceably written book memorializes the younger Borglum. Lincoln is sympathetic, and readers will be glad he enjoyed future success, described in an afterword. The acrylic-and-pastel paintings are rendered in earth and muted tones and give a sense of the monument's scale. The final endpapers depict the four presidents; younger children would benefit from their being identified. A mostly outdated, seemingly child-unfriendly bibliography is unhelpful. Much has been written for children about Mount Rushmore. While this isn't a must-have, it offers a new approach to this landmark. (Picture book/biography 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews