National Monuments of the USA

This is a brilliant book packed with interesting information and facts about monuments across the USA, from the world famous Statue of Liberty and the Grand Canyon to the craters of the moon!

I enjoyed discovering so much new information about the USA’s history and nature in the pages of this book and spent ages poring over the beautiful illustrations by Chris Turnham. It was also great to see that the book covers a hugely diverse range of monuments from Stonewall to the Birmingham Civil Rights monument.

This is a great companion to the National Parks of the USA book and I am sure it will be just as popular with my pupils.

Very informative and beautiful images all through the book! Loved the chapters and the maps. Ideal for inquisitive kids ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely love this book!
It's a beautifully illustrated, non traditional, fact book on national monuments throughout the United States.
While reading please step into your imagination for a road trip to visit: the statue of liberty, jewel cave, montezuma castle, devils tower, golden gate, Aniakchak, paphānaumokuākea, and so many other monuments between.

I appreciate that theres recognition that these places are sacred to indigenous people,
and gives (some) facts from that perspective.

The facts themselves are wonderful too, most of them light and easy to remember,
by the end of the book I needed to call my mom just to rattle off a couple new ones including;

"Beavers and otters have a set of transparent eyelids so they can see clearly in the water like having built in goggles!"
"The rainforest in admiralty island can rain over 100 inches each year!"
"Some whale tails can be 18 feet wide!"

Over all I would 10/10 recommend this book to any child (or child at heart) who like to travel, learn a lot, or look at nice pictures.

what beautiful illustrations love the detailed information that is crafted well for younger minds but still incredibly immersive. this was such a joy.

This is a beautiful, delightful illustrated guide to a selection of American national monuments, designed to spark interest in children, providing information not only about each monument but also context and background — for example talking about the Lenape people gathering oysters in what is now New York Harbour in the pages about the Statue of Liberty. The additional facts are well written to be interesting to children and amusing to adults — did you know that Liberty’s index finger is 8 feet long and “that’s a lot taller than most grown-ups”?

I especially enjoyed the inclusivity, prominently featuring monuments dedicated to African-American figures of Civil Rights movement; the section about the Central heartlands included 5 locations related to African-American history, 1 site relating to indigenous traditions (Pipestone, sacred to Dakota and Lakota peoples) and 1 that was foundational to US labour organising (the Pullman company town and the 1894 strike). I also liked the phrasing, when discussing Stonewall, that “over years people have created new versions of the [rainbow] flag to include more people in the LGBTQ+ community” and that the book included national monuments in some of the US colonies in the Pacific, though I was a little disappointed not to have the opportunity to learn anything about monuments or Historic Places in the Caribbean colonies and the Atlantic Ocean.

Overall, Cameron Walker has done a great job at pitching the copy at a level that will intrigue children and adults alike and Chris Turnham’s illustrations are stunningly beautiful; Myrto Dimitrakoulia’s design work should also be commended. This is a beautiful book and I can easily imagine spending hours poring over it with young relatives.

I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review.