You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks

by Evan Turk, Evan Turk (Illustrator)

Overview

Award-winning author and illustrator Evan Turk showcases the beauty and importance of the National Parks in this gorgeous picture book that takes readers on an amazing tour across the United States.

Beneath the soaring doorways of stone,
and peaks that pierce the ceiling of clouds,
from every river, star, and stone
comes the eternal refrain:
you are home.

In simple, soaring language and breathtaking art, acclaimed author-illustrator Evan Turk has created a stirring ode to nature and nation. From the rugged coast of Maine to the fiery volcanoes of Hawaii, You Are Home reminds us that every animal, plant, and person helps make this land a brilliant, beautiful sanctuary of life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534432826
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Pages:	56
Sales rank:	1,100,509
Product dimensions:	11.10(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Evan Turk is an Ezra Jack Keats Award–winning illustrator, author, and animator. He is the author-illustrator of The Storyteller, Heartbeat, You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks, A Thousand Glass Flowers, and Hello, Moon and the illustrator of Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters, which was a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book; The People’s Painter; Grandfather Gandhi; and its companion Be the Change. Originally from Colorado, Evan now lives in southern California with his husband and two cats. He is a graduate of Parsons School of Design. Visit him at EvanTurk.com.

Evan Turk is an Ezra Jack Keats Award–winning illustrator, author, and animator. He is the author-illustrator of The Storyteller, Heartbeat, You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks, A Thousand Glass Flowers, and Hello, Moon and the illustrator of Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters, which was a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book; The People’s Painter; Grandfather Gandhi; and its companion Be the Change. Originally from Colorado, Evan now lives in southern California with his husband and two cats. He is a graduate of Parsons School of Design. Visit him at EvanTurk.com.

Editorial Reviews

…a book as majestic and inclusive as its subject.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

★ 03/25/2019

Splendid landscapes by Turk (Heartbeat) celebrate America’s national parks. In free verse that enumerates their natural riches, he pays homage to a number of parks (labeled in corresponding spreads) with the incantatory refrain of the title: “to the herds of elk/ trumpeting the arrival of fall;/ to the forests of twinkling aspen/ turned golden by the shortening days./ you are home.” The title phrase applies to park visitors, too: “to the child in the city,/ surrounded by windows,/ noise, and crowds... you are home.” In the text—and more fully in an author’s note—Turk acknowledges that the parks’ establishment sometimes meant the removal of their indigenous inhabitants: “to the child whose ancestors/ lived on these lands before the stars and stripes/ took them as their own./ you are still home.” In consistently powerful spreads, the artist highlights the play of sun and shadow over mountains and canyons with fiery oranges, deep rusts and cobalts, and velvety black. There are 58 U.S. national parks, and 22 appear here, from Yosemite and Yellowstone to Biscayne Bay. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting testament to their grandeur. Ages 4–8. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (June)

Publishers Weekly

* “This love letter to America’s national treasures is an important, informative invitation to experience and explore.

starred review Booklist

"This lyrical tribute demands art to match, and Ezra Jack Keats Book Award winner Evan Turk rises to the challenge. . . . A gallant rebuke to the expression 'You had to be there.'"

Shelf Awareness

* “Expansive . . . Turk’s magnificent, lush illustrations, with deft use of light and shadow, depict not only grandiose mountains and vistas (Yosemite appears in a stunning double-gatefold spread) but also the creatures therein (a bobcat in Yosemite, fireflies in the Smokies) and the families who visit. . . . It all adds up to an informative and breathtaking exploration of U.S. national parks.

starred review Bookpage

Turk captures the very idea of our national parks. With bold, freewheeling painting and equally bold, concise poetry, plus informational pages, he has made a book as majestic and inclusive as its subject.

The New York Times Book Review

06/01/2019

PreS-Gr 3—Turk takes readers on a visual journey through 25 national parks with the effect of perusing a travelogue. Each landscape spread features a different park subtly named in the bottom corner that sometimes includes wildlife or human visitors. The illustrations, rendered in pastel on black paper are, with a few notable exceptions (the Arches, Everglades, and Biscayne), predominantly dark. Touches of yellows, blues, and greens lighten most pages, but the cumulative effect is one of darkness. Endpapers depict a sunrise and a starry night sky; most pages in between have a dawn, dusk or nighttime feel. Back matter includes a U.S. map with all 58 National Parks indicated, author notes, and further information about the featured parks and animals. Unfortunately, the print on the "More About" page is so small only the hardiest of young readers might believe it was meant for them. The text is indeed a classic ode with the refrain, "you are home." Turk first addresses the creatures you might encounter in the parks, turns his attention to "the child in the city," "the child on the farm," and then immigrants and "ancestors," touching upon the irony that many of these lands were home to Native Americans before the "stars and stripes took them as their own," only to preserve the land as "a place for all." VERDICT Rather than sparking young readers' interest in our National Parks, this earnest but abstract picture book will be most appreciated by those who are already familiar with them.—Lynn Van Auken, Oak Bluffs School, MA

School Library Journal

★ 2019-04-10
From Acadia in the east to Olympic in the west, Turk presents an artistic and inclusive ode to America's national parks.

Readers who pick up this 12-inch-square book will be immersed in nature and art even before they open it, as they share an adult and child's view of mountains, flowers, stream, and sky. Much like the parks they celebrate, each majestic spread in this book holds wonders for the eye to explore, with one or occasionally two parks represented per spread. Well-known and lesser-known parks alike are featured, whetting readers' appetites to learn more and explore. From close-up views of animals—pronghorn amid prairie grasses, bison in a snowy oasis, a bobcat in the dark—to children and their families—city children and farm children, immigrants and Indigenous, all joyously diverse—the text repeats the soothing refrain to all: "you are home." The art is created using pastel on black paper, which produces a deep feeling of purpose behind each stroke and swath of color. The art could stand alone, but the words manage to add even more weight, pinpointing the feeling familiar to many nature lovers: "a sense of belonging, / sung by the streams, / from valleys to peaks, / over thousands of miles, / through millions of hearts." Perusing this book induces a longing to go outside and travel but also to create art of one's own.

Masterful. (Picture book. 5-adult)

Kirkus Reviews