What is the Statue of Liberty?

Author: John Holub
Illustrator: John Hinderliter
Awards: None
Grade Level: 2-5th

Summary:
The Statue of Liberty was simply a vision by the French law professor, Edouard de Laboulaye, to celebrate American Liberty and encourage France to follow the democratic path that America had set. With the help of sculptor, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, who based the design after his project for the Suez Canal lighthouse. A lot of money needed to be raised for this project, which was solved through the help of Joseph Pulitzer when he asked his readers in his newspaper for support. Bartholdi realized that the internal structure was not going to last so he had the help of Gustave Eiffel who came up with the idea of an iron structure to reinforce the statue. This was a successful strategy and would be placed on top of a pedestal designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Unfortunately Laboulaye died before the copper statue was finished, but a huge celebration was arranged for it's reveal to America. Throughout its life, Lady Liberty has been made an American Symbol of freedom during war and immigration. It has had to be repaired due to rust, erosion and weathering; however the tall structure remains a popular tourist cite that many go to see each year.

Evaluation:
I was super excited to read this book because I have been meaning to read some of the What is and Who was series. I really appreciated the pictures that were included in the book as well as excerpts that explained other events that may be unfamiliar to the reader. I would love to have books from this series in my classroom because it would be perfect for research projects and allowing students to learn about different events in an interesting way. I'm not sure if I would read this particular book to my class but I will for sure get it in my classroom library and encourage my students to read it when they need to read nonfiction books.