Hand in Hand: An American History Through Poetry

by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Presenting American history through poetry, Lee Bennett Hopkins offers a unique perspective on each part of the American experience. Filled with wit, color, knowledge, and truth, these selections offer rich detail about the lives and events that have shaped our nation.
Each poet lends a particular voice and vision to the subject. From the founding of this nation, through the Great Depression and the wars we've fought, to the issues of today, these poems echo the emotions of our triumphs and defeats.
Here are all the varied people who make up America -- the different races and their various ways of facing life. Their brave spirit speaks loudly in the special language of poetry. It opens our eyes to see in a new way that which we already knew.
Lee Bennett Hopkins, a renowned anthologist, has chosen with care a collection of poetry, some that readers know and some that they will come to know. Peter M. Fiore's magnificent paintings complement the poetry, offering a human portrait of us as we were and as we are today.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, History, Nonfiction, American History

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Lee Bennett Hopkins was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2017. He holds a Guinness Book of Records citation for compiling the most anthologies for children. He has also received the Christopher Award, the Regina Medal, and the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award. He lives in Florida.

For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...

Reviews

[Megan Haas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of poetry is appropriate for Grades 3-5. Each poem is related to the history of America starting from when the Pilgrims came on the Mayflower through modern day and landing on the moon. The poems are all connected to their era in some way and paint a very visual picture in your mind when reading.

[Juan Figueroa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a poetry book that has poem related to American history starting with the early settlers. Each poem has wonderful pictures that help bring the time to life. I would recommend this book for 4th grade and up as students learn about American history in Social Studies.

[Ruth Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of our country through a collection of poetry.
Lovely watercolor illustrations.

[Brooke Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Hand in Hand is a collection of poems that teaches American history. These poems open our ways to different experiences that Americans have faced throughout history in the unique way of poetry. The poem that I looked out was the poem “Depression.” I thought the depression was always very fascinating to learn about. This particular poem describes a young girl and her sister who grew up during the depression. She saw people standing in food lines and people begging for work.

Personal Response/Critical Response: This collection of poems WILL be in my classroom library. This is a great book to teach American history in an interesting way—poetry. Children will respond to this well because the read is simple and to the point yet striking and emotional. This book can be used for grades 1-4.

Description of Illustrations: The illustrations are simple and done in water color. They are not big—a little cartoon like. The illustrations look as if children could paint them.

Classroom Connections: This would be a great book to tie in with a history lesson. Most of these poems if not all can relate to different American history lessons that will be taught in class. I will use these poems to engage my students and get them thinking about history differently and relate them to it in a different way. This book of poems can teach be used to teach about punctuation and other elements of sentences. It can even be used for learning new words.

[Victoria Kilcrease · Rating 4 out of 5]

This poetry book is entitled Hand in Hand: An American History Through Poetry and is by Lee Bennett Hopkins. This book has many poetry selections in it which offer a unique perspective on different parts of American history experiences. This book could be used in grades 1-4 to teach writing, sentence structure, vocabulary, and punctuation.

[Courtney]

This book is a great treasury of poem that capture the different time periods in history. A teacher could constantly refer to this as they taught history. I think this book could be used across all grade levels of school

[Paul Hankins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super connection for offering poetry in the social studies or American History classroom. Lee Bennett Hopkins does not disappoint in his ability to collect poetry on a theme. This is a celebration of our great nation.

[Cws]

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