WALT WHITMAN: WORDS FOR AMERICA

By: Barbara Kerley, Illustrated by Brian Selznick

1. Bibliography
Kerley, Barbara, and Brian Selznick. WALT WHITMAN: WORDS FOR AMERICA. New York: Scholastic, 2004. Print. ISBN: 0439357918

2. Plot Summary
WALT WHITMAN: WORDS FOR AMERICA is a picture book biography of Walt Whitman's life. Walt Whitman was a journalist who began working as an printer's apprentice at twelve years old. He eventually became a well known American poet.  Walt's younger brother went off to fight in the Civil War.  Walt received word that his brother had been hurt, so Walt went looking for him.  While Walt was there he became a volunteer nurse for the Civil War, which helped to inspire his poetry.

3. Critical Analysis
The author included many details of Walt Whitman's life. The reader learns that Walt was concerned about mankind and his poems were wrote to reflect this.  "Black, white, Union, Confederate - Walt nursed whomever he saw. He fed men too weak to eat." The illustrations complement the text by showing that Walt had respect for soldiers and caring for those unknown to him. The author's style is interesting while including many quotes from Walt's poems.  At the back of the book, the author includes many poems written by Walt. The author also includes a section of notes at the end of the book along with sources used for this book.

The illustrations included in this book help to tell the story of Walt's life.  Most of the pictures are two spread with little white space except for the text.  The illustrator included pictures with rich colors and attention to detail.  From the illustrators note in the back, we learn that a lot of research was put into the illustrations. The page opposite the title page is illustrated to resemble a typeset page imposition of the title page.

4. Review Excerpts
~Robert F. Sibert Honor Book

~HORN BOOK MAGAZINE 2004 "Whitman lovers everywhere should give joyful thanks for this splendid presentation."

~SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL 2005 "Attractive colored-pencil drawings capture the careful research done on this picture-book biography for older readers."

5. Connections
~This biography could be read to students as an introduction to the Civil War.

~While reading this book about Walt Whitman, students could be given a map to pin point the places that he visited and lived for a lesson on geography.

Other books by Barbara Kerley:
THE EXTRAORDINARY MARK TWAIN
ONE DAY, ONE WORLD
WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE?