Walt Whitman by Barbara Kerley

Walt Whitman #3
By Barbara Kerley
Illustrated by Brian Selznick

Kerley, Barbara. (2004). Walt whitman: Words for america. New York: Scholastic.

Grade Level: 2-6

Awards: Sibert Honor Book for Nonfiction, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Caldecott Award, and New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award

Author’s Credibility: In the author’s note, Kerley described how she began working on this book. She began writing this book after Brian Selznick, illustrator, sent her a medallion of Walt Whitman with a butterfly on his finger. She began extensive research on Walt’s life and wanted his experiences with the Civil War to be the focus of this book. Kerley did not give a lot of background about Walt in the book, but she did in the author’s note. She gave background information about his birth, Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, and his poetry.

Summary: In Walt Whitman: Words for America, Kerley gave a partial biography of Walt Whitman’s life. The story began with Whitman’s life at twelve years old when he was working as a printer’s apprentice. He was a fast learner and by the time he was nineteen he had his own newspaper. Through his working with letters, Whitman fell in love with words and began reading all kinds of books. He enjoyed experimenting with words. He wrote many of his thoughts down in a little notebook that he made and carried with him everywhere he went.

Kerley also discussed Walt’s love for people and how he enjoyed walking the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan just to see how lived. On many occasions, he would see the president, Abraham Lincoln, on his walks. Walt admired President Lincoln and was saddened when he heard about his assassination. Walt wrote several of his poems about Lincoln trying to help ease the country’s grief.

Kerley and Selznick wanted the focus of the book to be about Walt’s life during the Civil War, his love for the soldiers, and how the war divided the country’s feelings. Walt wanted to be a soldier, but he was too old when the Civil War started. He wanted to do something so he became like a nurse where he helped and took care of the wounded soldiers. It did not matter whether the soldiers were Union or Confederate, black or white, Walt stayed beside them until they regained their strength. Over looking his own health, Walt stayed with the soldiers until he became ill. He went to live with his brother to recuperate.

Although Whitman was gay, Kerley did not discuss this issue in the book. Selznick showed a picture of him in his younger days running naked at the beach. This picture could have been an indication of Whitman’s free spirit through his lifestyle and his poetry.

Standards: Social Studies (World History and Civics)

Illustrations: Selznick used big, bold, and colorful pictures on oversized pages to bring the reader into the book. He used the actual photographs of daguerreotypes of soldiers. Listed in the back of the book is the illustrator’s note. In his note, Selznick talked about his visit to Walt’s birth home and the Brooklyn Public Library. At the library, he saw photos, held Walt’s homemade notebooks, and read his entries in the notebooks.

He also visited the Museum of Printing History in Texas where he was showed how to use a nineteenth-century printing press that Walt used. Capital letters were placed on upper shelves and other letters on lower shelves where the terms, “uppercase and lowercase” letters came from in our writing.

Access Features: Illustrations, photographs, author’s note, illustrator’s note, note about the poems, poems, sources of quotes, acknowledgement of other authors, libraries, museums, and copyright (in back of book).

Usage in Classroom: I could use this book with our Black History unit when we talk about slavery and how it influenced the Civil War. I could also use it to talk about President Abraham Lincoln.

My Response: I liked that Walt was not afraid to experiment with writing. He wrote poems that the people were not used to, but he won them over to his writing.

I also liked this book because it showed that Walt understood that taking care of a soldier, letting him know that someone cared (whether black or white) was the quickest way to get him back to being a healthy soldier.

Even though my students call each other “gay” all the time, I have not discussed the issue in details. I am glad that the book did not discuss the issue of homosexuality because I am not comfortable discussing it with my students.

Related Books:
Whitman, Walt (1990). Memoranda During the War.

Library of Congress’s Web site: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wwhtml/wwhome.html.