America The Beautiful

Ages 5 to 8, Grades K to 3

A celebration of all that makes the song sing true to the American spirit for a new generation of children. This book is an ode to America then and now, from sea to shining sea.

Wonderfully spare, deceptively simple verses pair with richly evocative paintings to celebrate the iconic imagery of America. Each spread shows a stirring tableau, from the view of the Statue of Library at Ellis Island, to the great plains, to a spacecraft at Cape Canaveral blasting off. With illustrations paired to each line of the well-known song, and that celebrate America's history, landscape, and people in powerful, stirring and reflective illustration. Non-fiction spreads at the end of the book will explain this history and significance of the song, and why we sing it today as well as more information on some of the places shown in the artwork.

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!O beautiful for pilgrim feet,

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness,

And every gain divine!O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

About the Author

Jill De Haan grew up in the glorious mountains of Utah making bows & arrows and collecting unusual rocks. She currently lives in the woods of upstate New York.