Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Statue of Liberty
Nonfiction
For ages 12 and up
The Creative Company, 2005 ISBN: 978-1583413777
When Auguste Bartholdi's homeland was taken over by the Prussians during the Franco-Prussian war, Auguste was deeply upset. Knowing that his people had lost their freedom and independence encouraged Auguste to pursue a dream of his – a dream to build an enormous statue. Auguste wanted to build something which would serve as a tribute to the friendship that existed between France and America. He hoped it would also be a tribute to “the United States’ inspirational idea of liberty.”
Thus it was that work on Lady Liberty was begun in Paris in 1881. Auguste designed and oversaw the building of the statue’s outer shell and a French engineer called Gustave Eiffel figured out how to build a strong inner support system. The statue was to be a gift from France to America and the American’s were to pay for and build the pedestal that the statue was going to stand on. Thanks to the hard work of Joseph Pulitzer and the generosity of the American public, the money for the pedestal was raised and the structure was built.
Finally, five years after the project was begun, the Statue of Liberty was unveiled on October 28th, 1886. For many, the statue would come to represent the freedom and opportunities that life in America offered and the statue’s beauty, grace and power still has the ability to move those who see her.
In this exceptional book the author not only tells us the story of how the Statue of Liberty came to be created, but she also gives us a picture of what the world was like in the years when the statue was being dreamed of and built – the 1870’s and 1880’s. It was a time of great change and certainly a time when new ideas were having a great impact on people all over the world.
