Laban Carrick Hill

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America Dreaming
How Youth Changed America in the 60s

New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age Selection!

Starred Selection, Best Children's Books 2008, Bank Street College

2007 Parenting Publications Gold Award Winner!

"An excellent textbook for the children and, probably, grandchildren of baby boomers who want to know what the youth culture of the time was all about."–New York Times Book Review

"America Dreaming is a phenomenal piece of work, extensively researched and visually stimulating; an essential resource for children and adults of all ages." –Howard Zinn

"This is a great book. It tells an important story and tells it well–and pictures it well too."–Pete Seeger, singer/songwriter

With the end of the 1950s came a cultural explosion and the birth of a new era. The 1960s were a time of change, and at the forefront of this change was America's youth. America Dreaming is a comprehensive examination of America in the midst of revolution and the adolescents who shaped the world around them, causing a massive cultural shift.

Like Harlem Stomp!, America Dreaming is an educational and visual look into a time of energy and influence. Covering subjects such as the Civil Rights Movement, Black Nationalism, Chicano Power, the Young Lords Party, the American Indian Movement, and feminism, Hill paints a sprawling picture of life in the midst of social upheaval and political uprising and shows how teenagers spearheaded societal changes that occurred during this grand decade.

America Dreaming is a window into the past, filled with vivid colors and exuberant designs, and an extensive collection of songs, pictures, and historical documents that are sure to take you back to a time when American teens stoop up and fought for their beliefs, their lives, and most importantly, their dreams.


Selected Works

1. Nonfiction
America Dreaming How Youth Changed America
"Phenomenal."–Howard Zinn "Excellent."–New York Times Book Review
Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Stomp! is a wonderous new book: it celebrates a time, a place, an energy, and a people who refused to be held back and so they created a culture the entire world is still reeling from.”
--George C. Wolfe, writer, director, and producer of the Public Theater, NYC
2. Fiction
A Brush with Napoleon
A seventeen-year-old is plucked out of the Grande Armee to sit in place of Napoleon for a portrait of the Emperor by the artist David.
Casa Azul
"I felt like a kid reading every word on the page! I liked the strains of "magic realism" coming through in Frida's house! Children will relate to this very much! The story is charming and reads like a thriller." –Margarita Aguilar, Assisant Curator, El Museo del Barrio
3. Poetry
Dave the Potter
A picturebook poem describing the life of the slave potter Dave.
Contemporary Poetry of New England
“Contemporary Poetry of New England offers a vivid portrait of a region, its colors and smells, its physical and emotional textures, and the people…. It presents a range of poets, few of whom would call themselves a “region poet,” although each has taken to heart in a private way Frost’s haunting dictum: ‘Locality gives art.’”
--from the Introduction
4. Middle Grade Series
Xtreme Mysteries
These kids love extreme sports--snowboarding, skateboarding, rock climbing, wake boarding--and are ready to fight when the right to do their sport is threatened.

Created by The Authors Guild

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