Naming Liberty

By Jane Yolen, Illustrated by Jim Burke (Philomel Books –New York in 2008)

Two stories present at once, a story of a girl’s journey to America on the left side pages and a story of the Statue of Liberty on the right side pages. A young girl Gitl in Russia is leaving her homeland for far away America, wondering what name she will choose for her in the new country. Meanwhile a French artist Frederic Auguste Bartholdi is dreaming of a monument he wants to build to honor freedom. Two different stories in the same epoch, and connected with the keyword “Liberty”.

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見開きのそれぞれの左右のページで別の話が進行してゆく。左ページは東欧のある家族が米国移民を決心し現実に米国へ渡るまでの話が、右ページにはフランス人彫刻家のバルトルデイが米国への贈り物を思いつき自由の女神像を創作し、自由の女神が米国に渡るまでの話。Libertyの言葉へのそれぞれの人の思いが、様々な形で現実化されてゆくドキュメンタリータッチの読む歴史絵本。