I Am America... and America Is Me

by Charles R. Smith Jr.

Poet and photographer Charles Smith, Jr. has created a poignant, stunning photographic picture book that celebrates the many faces that make up America. "I am America/I am proud/I am diverse/soft-spoken/and loud." The powerful poem in this one-of-a-kind book is enhanced by the accompanying photographs that represent children of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. The playful images and touching poetry work together to tell the story of America. Children and parents alike will be moved by each unforgettable face and each strikingly beautiful line of verse. Photographer Charles Smith, Jr. brings his unique artistic style to this patriotic and poignant portrayal of America's children.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Childrens, Photography, Nonfiction, Cultural, American

30 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003

About the author

Charles R. Smith Jr. is an award-winning author, photographer, and poet with more than thirty books to his credit. His awards include a Coretta Scott King Award for illustration for his photographs accompanying the Langston Hughes poem "My People" and a Coretta Scott King Honor for his biography of Muhammad Ali, Twelve Rounds to Glory. He is the author of Rimshots, Hoop Kings, Hoop Queens, Tall Tales, Short Takes, Diamond Life, and I Am America. A father of three himself, Charles brings his love of basketball and baseball right down to the toddler set in Let's Play Basketball! and Let's Play Baseball! His recent work celebrates subjects he's been interested in since he was a kid, such as The Mighty 12, which honors Greek gods and goddesses. He currently lives in Poughkeepsie, NY, with his wife, Gillian, and their three kids. You can visit him online at www.charlesrsmithjr.com.

Reviews

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking a bit dated by now

[Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about diversity in America and how diversity has defined America since the beginning of its time. By saying that I’m not rewriting history and saying that America has never been racist or unfair, I’m saying that that was the basis America was founded on and it continues to be so today. This book goes through each page with images of a real student and a short sentence that describes something about them or what they do that is unique. Each sentence on every page begins with “I am” and then finishes out with a characteristic of the student or something that they like to do. Several ethnicities are observed through this book as the author has chosen to take pictures of students that are Caucasian, African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American. This book would also be a great tool to show students how everyone is different and how it is okay to be different from one another. Diversity among each other makes life worth living and we can learn from each other because those differences exist. If we were all the same then there would be nothing that we could learn from one another.
The way this book is graphically presented speaks so much to the title of this book. As I said before the pictures of the students in this book represent students across several different ethnicities. Also each page is uniquely colorful and different. Symbolically this represents diversity because each page has its own unique color scheme to go along with each unique student. Each page also has a different fact about each one of the students. This helps to highlight diversity even further among the students in this book.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book to use when talking about the topic of diversity. It shows what America is all about. I really liked how each description used real children so that the children can relate a lot more. I would change a few things. I felt like the African American children used were in very sterotyped descriptions,like the one about liking blues, soul, hip hop and a couple of others that I can't remember right now. I think that they should have maybe used multiple backgrounds of children to represent some of the categories instead. Overall it was a very good book though.

[Earl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book celebrates the diversity in our country. We are struggling to remember that it was our differences that were the building blocks of this nation. We must continue to build upon that- not a wall to keep others out but a platform to raise each other up. And I hope we continue to fight for our melting pot, our rainbow, and our divided but still united states of America.

[Sarah Beth Stair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary:
"I am America" shows images of various children of America. It states their differences from physical traits like hair and eye color, clothing choices, and activities, to even ethnicities and backgrounds. It expresses the idea that each of these children, however different that they might be, are all America.

Analysis:
I love how this book was very inclusive and had great ideas presented to the kids who will read it. It was simple and easy to understand, and the pictures of children were fun to look at since they were so cute. I think this is a great way to teach kids about the diversity of America and instill inclusion and love in them from an early age.

How I will use this book:
I want my students to be very inclusive and loving of everyone, no matter how different they might act or look. By using this book, I can help teach them to accept everyone and to see that everyone is just like them no matter how different they may appear.

[Alison Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my son asked me if someone was American (based on how they looked) I immediately went to the library and checked out this book. It's a celebration of the diversity that makes up America. The pictures are playful and emphasize that being American is about so much more than how you look (or what you listen to or what you wear or what you eat...).

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding book to share with young readers at this time of the year. Shared with my granddaughters and was interesting to watch how they responded to all of the different children's faces. And even better, they saw children who look like them.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yes, it's diverse. No it does not include transgender folx, lgtb kids, and mentions at least 3 flavors of Christianity to stress how diverse America is. It's not that good.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 storytime theme: America (July 4th)

Reviewed from a personal copy.

[Davonni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I Am America is a great book about teaching children about diversity. Charles Smith Jr, does a great job at showing the many different faces of children who live in America ant the activities they enjoy doing. This book is suited for elementary school age children of all cultural. This book reads more as poem with lines that state “I am American I am proud, I am diverse, soft spoken and loud.” As a literacy teacher I would use this text to talk about different types of poems in literature. I would encourage the students to try and write their own short poems about themselves. I also believe this book would work well in a social studies lesson. When talking about all the different cultures that make up America, this would be a good resource for the kids to read. The author’s cultural background was not something that stood out in this book. So many cultural were shown throughout book, not one was singled out or talked about more than the other. The author and the illustrator both do a great job at showing how America is made up of so many different faces. The words and pictures go hand in hand together to keep the children interested who are reading this book. This book relates to my topic by discussing the different types of identities of children. It shows children from all different backgrounds that have similar likes. Showing that no matter what your background is, you are just like everyone else. I would recommend this text to other teachers because it does a great job at teaching students to appreciate different cultural other than their own.

[Elizabeth]

Okay, this one I didn't mind as much as I Am the World because this one was much more playful (though I'm still full of small critiques, one of the big ones being that for all the diversity represented in the bodies of the children, all their attire, foods, etc. were generic "American").

I most rolled my eyes at "I am Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Mormon, Quaker, Amish," because, um, ALL of those you just listed are Christian -- except for Muslim and Jewish. Could we maybe just say "Christian" and then have room for Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, etc.?

Speaking of, I felt like the kids depicted were mostly white and black, with a little bit of Asian and ambiguous brown (I think Indian) represented -- no one seemed obviously Latinx, Middle Eastern, ethnically Jewish, Native American...

[Hoang Shin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really cute picture book. It features photographs of children from various ethnic backgrounds. It sends a message that America is made up of many different kinds of cultures and backgrounds. I like that it incorporates such a wonderful poem that adds playfulness to the text.
I would use this book to introduce new writing styles such as poetry. It is also a great text for students to make text to self connections with. Students can create poems that describe them as Americans; maybe this would even be great for creating a poem collectively.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has good pictures for talking about diversity. It shows children who look different but all represent America. I liked this book. It was a fairly simple book, so I do not have much to say about it, it would be good for beginning readers.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/bo...
Interest Level
Grades K - 2
Reading Level
Grade level Equivalent: Not Available
Lexile® Measure: Not Available
DRA: 30
Guided Reading: N
Type of Book: Photo Essay
Theme/Subject
Culture and Diversity
United States
Patriotism

[Shannon Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids absolutely adore this book! I particulary enjoy how the author writes about cultural diversity on a level in which young kids can understand. He stresses that America is a melting pot of different types of people and no matter the differences, we're all still Americans. The pictures are bright and colorful, appealing to the young reader and the prose is perfect - simple but demonstrates the diversity that is America. I highly recommend this for the young expat - ages 3 - 5.

[Charmaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Am America is a poem about children of different creeds within The United States of America. The poem does not have a main character yet the poem describes the different types of children who make up America. The poem also lists the different genres of music, religion, nationality and diversity of facial features which collectively make up the face of America. I would use this text to help students learn about poems.

[Bailey]

This is a cute book. I loved how so many children were in this book and it creates an easy way to incorporate your own book making in your classroom. This book shows students of all backgrounds and walks of life and show how they are America. It is a good book to use when talking about what America is with your students.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very cute. This book shows how students fit in the the American culture and how it's not just one "type" of person. This book could be integrated into Social Studies. Students could make their own page of the book and put them together and make a class book. This could be an excellence community building project for the students in the classroom.

[Melissa Nastja · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book shows the many people of America. Different races, religions, and lifestyles. It had great photographs for people, so students can relate to the> You could create a multimodal project out of it! Students realize that not everyone is the same, and that in America we need to love our differences.

[Megan Breslow · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a cute book, that shows students with the different things they like. The main idea of the book is that we are all america no matter what our taste or looks. Students can create their own I am america book or in the upper grades talk about how the bill of rights and constitution give them the right to be america as they choose.

[Laree Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute and inspiring book! I would recommend it for social studies and it can be used in classroom when discussing the make-up of America. It clearly represents children of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. Teachers can also have students create their own I Am America classroom book to integrate literacy.

[Bee]

This book is wonderful. It does not force any of the children into being American...but it basically let's the children know that no matter where you are from or what you look like, that they are a part of what makes up America. Great pictures but someone did mention that the pictures can be a bit stereotypical.

[Belise Michel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is also a great tool to use to talk about how we all are different but we all are still Americans. It is also a great tool to use to talk diversity. How we all are different in many ways but we are still Americans that can look different, wear different clothes, have a different religion, and so on.

[Thu Nguyen]

It is a book that promote diversity in the classroom. Children can make their own page and put together as a class book. I love the author using the children's photographs. If i have my own classroom, i would take pictures od my students with facial expression and different pose, costumes, etc. to hang around the classroom.

[Tonia Holloway]

This is great book for diversity. The fact that the author used real photographs so the children can more relate to the images. While reading the story I would pause at each description and ask the kids if they have these traits. I would do this with each aspect of the story, making sure each child is able to relate with something.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Am America- Author Charles R. Smith Jr.

This book is about children who represents America with their different shapes, colors and sizes. Everyone is America because of their differences. no two people are alike and that is America

The content of this book focuses on differences

This book can be utilized on the first day of school/ new classmate or people they see outside of school.

[Sharmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very cute book that would be great for younger children. It touches on all the various differences in our country. You can make this book more specific to your class by adding pages to include everyone in your class or even making your own I am America book.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for social studies and showing diversity. Its a short poetic book that includes photos of different ethnicity and racial backgrounds. Amazing book to share to students how everyone is different and we need to accept it.

[Chardell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great way to get your students in early primary grade level to discuss different culture....you could even add to it by getting to know your students backgrounds....make sure everyone is included!

[Lidra West · Rating 5 out of 5]

THis is a beautiful book when sharing with student how AMerican is different and how our differences make us beautiful. I really enjoyed hwving studing add their own pages to the book discussign what about them makes them America.

[Keidra Polite · Rating 5 out of 5]

It tells the students about diversity. It would be a great way to make the students feel comfortable in your classroom. It has all different races and faces. Also, it would be great book to do an activity with.