Each of the poems is beautifully illustrated by luminous pictures, and the text identifies the tribe which originated the story and its geographic region. Moments in the lives of such legendary men and women as Martin Luther King, Sacagawea, Eleanor Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy are brought to life by well-known poets such as Jane Yolen and Nikki Grimes. Full-page color portraits accompany each poem. Also included are additional notes on the lives of each of these famous Americans. It focuses on the ecological themes of celebrating, sacrificing, and saving the earth.
Illustrations are black and white, and appear primarly as backgrounds for typeface.
The work provides another way in addition to storytelling to introduce children to an awareness of our world and concern for its health. Poems Sara Holbrook uses the medium of poetry to convey to children that even when difficult times occur, life does go on. Themes include bad haircuts, glasses, braces, substitute teachers, chores and more. Poems, Prairies Dave Bouchard lovingly remembers life on the prairie with these poems which capture the harshness and the happiness of his childhood home. The waist-high snow of winter, the days playing baseball, and the activities of a small farm are recounted through the eyes of a man who believes that his life was shaped by those early years on the prairie.