A Is for America: An American Alphabet

by Devin Scillian, Pam Carroll (Illustrator)

Overview

A sweeping tribute to all we know and love about our country.

From the British and our Constitution that replaced their rule, to Yellowstone Park and Zane Grey's stories of the west, A Is For America celebrates the people, places, and symbols of this great nation. With delightful poems that beg to be read aloud, and expository text to broaden a student's horizons, this American alphabet will make you fall in love with the United States over and over again. Bright, beautifully detailed illustrations from California artist Pam Carroll bring each letter to life, from eagles to Thomas Edison to the veterans of two World Wars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781585360154
Publisher:	Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date:	05/01/2001
Series:	Discover the World
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Devin Scillian is an award-winning author, broadcast journalist, and musician. He presently anchors the news for WDIV-TV in Detroit. He has traveled the world covering news stories from Sydney to Siberia. His school presentations have inspired countless children to think of themselves as not only readers, but writers as well. In addition to Memoirs of a Goldfish, Memoirs of a Hamster, Memoirs of an Elf, and Memoirs of a Parrot, Devin is also the author of numerous books for Sleeping Bear Press including the national bestseller A is for America: An American Alphabet. Devin lives in Michigan with his family. Find out more about Devin at www.devinscillian.com.

Born and raised in Southern California, Pam Carroll embraces the traditional focus of realism and pictorial illusionism. Her style of painting has been greatly influenced by the early Dutch Masters and the American Realists from the Second School of Philadelphia. She has illustrated A is for America: An American Alphabet; One Nation: America by the Numbers; S is for Star: A Christmas Alphabet; and G is for Golden: A California Alphabet. She lives with her husband in Carmel, California, where she paints daily, and is an active member of the Carmel Art Association.

Editorial Reviews

With its bright, full-page trompe-l'oeil paintings, one cannot fault this rhymed abecedarium for earnestness. Each letter of the alphabet has its list in couplets, and each letter names places, persons, and things American-N is for Norman Rockwell, Native American, NASA-and the accompanying painting illustrates them all in an inventive if rather surreal diorama. A sidebar to each rhyme gives a bit more historical background. While it is not precisely disinformation, some of the "facts "offered are pretty offhand. For example, the name California comes from the Amazon Queen Califia, who presided over an island of gold; so to say, as the author does, that the name comes from a Spanish story about an island of gold is a little misleading. What is perhaps more troubling is the amount of product placement: Hershey bars, Oreos, Tootsie Rolls, Monopoly, and Holiday Inns are among the items listed, and lovingly delineated, under their proper letters. The images cheerfully combine what's named without regard for historical time frame, but it is a bit unsettling to see, on the page for "P", civil rights hero Rosa Parks with a box of popcorn in her lap, looking out a bus window where both Pike's Peak and Plymouth rock can be seen. One might have more fun with Barbara Younger's "Purple Mountain Majesties "(1998) for Fourth of July storytime. "(Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews