North America: A Fold-Out Graphic History
by Sarah Albee, Illustrated by William Exley
What On Earth Books & Smithsonian (October 1, 2019)
Nonfiction * History * United States
Audience: Ages 8 to 13
IndieBound | WorldCat

Description of the book:
A richly illustrated, foldout graphic history of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the islands of the Caribbean.

North American history unfolds in this graphic timeline that places the United States, Canadian and Mexican/Caribbean histories in the context of their continent. From healers in the Aleutian islands in 10,000 BCE to the first to cultivate corn in 3,000 BCE in Mexico to Canadian scientists studying butterfly migration in 1975. From the Aztecs of the city of Tenochtitlan to the Mississippians who built Cahokia to the Inuit of the arctic and the Taino of the Caribbean. Then there are Spanish, French, English, and other Europeans who invaded in the 1500s, the enslaved Africans forcibly brought to our shores, and millions more, from all around the world.

Ours is the story of creation and destruction, migration, exploration, conquest, wars, alliances, trade, governments, railroads, mutinies, panning for gold, invention, and art. It includes terrible injustices and amazing movements toward equality and freedom, and so much more. So unfold the book and immerse yourself in the vast tapestry that is North American history.

Quick thoughts on the book:
Sometimes when I read a book, I wonder how the author pulled together and organized so much material. In looking, Sarah Albee’s new book, NORTH AMERICA, I definitely wondered how you go about creating “a sweeping illustrated timeline of Canada, the United States, Mexico, and the Islands of the Caribbean”. Albee’s author note gives readers a little bit of her process and how her perspective on history was shaped by this process.

Albee manages to condense history to an 8 foot double sided timeline. I wasn’t expecting this when I opened the book and it kept unfolding. I imagined a group of kids unfolding the timeline across the floor and gathering around it to read the various facts and going back and forth through time by moving forward and back along the pages. This is a book to pour over and read and come back to read some more. I am looking forward to sharing this book with kids and seeing how they choose to interact with it.