· 2022
National Book Award finalist Elizabeth Partridge reveals the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park, the United States Capitol building's landscape, and more. Nobody could get Frederick Law Olmsted to sit still. He was filled with energy, adventure, and dreams of changing the world. As a boy, he found refuge in the peace and calm of nature, and later as an adult, he dreamed of designing and creating access to parks for a growing and changing America. When New York City held a contest for the best park design for what would become Central Park, Olmsted won and became the father of landscape architecture. He went on to design parks across America, including Yosemite National Park and even the grounds for the United States Capitol. This scenic biography is lavishly illustrated by Becca Stadtlander, and National Book Award finalist Elizabeth Partridge brings her renowned lyricism and meticulous research to the visionary who brought parks to the people.
· 2018
★ "Partridge proves once again that nonfiction can be every bit as dramatic as the best fiction."* America's war in Vietnam. In over a decade of bitter fighting, it claimed the lives of more than 58,000 American soldiers and beleaguered four US presidents. More than forty years after America left Vietnam in defeat in 1975, the war remains controversial and divisive both in the United States and abroad. The history of this era is complex; the cultural impact extraordinary. But it's the personal stories of eight people—six American soldiers, one American military nurse, and one Vietnamese refugee—that create the heartbeat of Boots on the Ground. From dense jungles and terrifying firefights to chaotic helicopter rescues and harrowing escapes, each individual experience reveals a different facet of the war and moves us forward in time. Alternating with these chapters are profiles of key American leaders and events, reminding us of all that was happening at home during the war, including peace protests, presidential scandals, and veterans' struggles to acclimate to life after Vietnam. With more than one hundred photographs, award-winning author Elizabeth Partridge's unflinching book captures the intensity, frustration, and lasting impacts of one of the most tumultuous periods of American history. *Kirkus Reviews, starred review of Marching for Freedom
· 2024
The Golden Gate Bridge, beloved landmark and symbol of San Francisco, finally gets a gorgeous picture book that tells the thrilling story of how it was built! Across a treacherous strait where deep ocean waters rip back and forth with the tides, and during the depths of the Great Depression, daring teams of engineers and builders set out to make something many thought impossible. Begun in 1933 and officially opened on May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge and its awe-inspiring and groundbreaking construction are truly a testament to the power of hope and perseverance. Told from the point of view of the lighthouse keeper’s kids, who watch in fascination as the trucks and crews arrive and steel towers coated in heavy red paint begin to rise above the tempestuous water, Golden Gate shares a thrilling visual perspective on each stage of the breathtaking project. Young readers can look and learn as each turn of the page reveals dazzling, color-soaked artwork paired with text that blends factual details into the narrators’ keen observations. By the final spread, where fireworks explode in celebration over the mighty bridge, the tale is complete—not only of an astonishing feat of engineering but of the potential of human ingenuity to defy the odds and make the impossible possible. EXTRAORDINARY NONFICTION BOOK FOR KIDS: Painstaking research went into the writing and illustrating of this story, making it an outstanding resource for learning about an American engineering marvel. The author’s afterword summarizes key facts and offers a powerful reminder of why the Golden Gate is beloved around the world as one of the most beautiful and inspiring bridges ever built. GREAT GIFT: For visitors to the foggy City by the Bay and those who live close to the scenic Golden Gate, this stunning picture book makes a perfect keepsake and tribute to California’s most recognizable landmark. FUN CALIFORNIA HISTORY: A fascinating slice of California history comes alive with detail and drama that will captivate kids of all ages! Perfect for: San Francisco Bay Area locals and visitors Fans of the Golden Gate Bridge Teachers and librarians looking for a nonfiction picture book that teaches history and STEM topics Parents, grandparents, and caregivers seeking engaging nonfiction children’s books Anyone who has left their heart in San Francisco
· 2009
An inspiring look at the fight for the vote, by an award-winning author Only 44 years ago in the U.S., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was leading a fight to win blacks the right to vote. Ground zero for the movement became Selma, Alabama. Award-winning author Elizabeth Partridge leads you straight into the chaotic, passionate, and deadly three months of protests that culminated in the landmark march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Focusing on the courageous children who faced terrifying violence in order to march alongside King, this is an inspiring look at their fight for the vote. Stunningly emotional black-and-white photos accompany the text.
· 2011
Twelve-year-old Tracy-or Tuyet-has always felt different. The villagers in Vietnam called her con-lai, or "half-breed," because her father was an American GI. And she doesn't fit in with her adoptive family in California, either. But when Tracy and a friend discover a soldier's dogtag hidden among her father's things, it sets her past and her present on a collision course. Where should her broken heart come to rest? In a time and place she remembers only in her dreams? Or among the people she now calls family? Partridge's sensitive portrayal of a girl and her family grappling with the complicated legacy of war is as timely today as the events were decades ago.
· 2005
A biography of John Lennon from his turbulent childhood to rebellious rock'n'roll teen to writing and recording with the Beatles to life with Yoko Ono.
· 2009
An inspiring examination of the landmark march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this book focuses on the children who faced terrifying violence in order to walk alongside him in their fight for freedom and the right to vote.
· 2022
Winner of the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Winner of the BolognaRagazzi Award for Photography Named a Best Book of the Year by Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, and others. ★ "This arresting work brings history to vivid life." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review ★ "[An] exquisitely crafted, fiercely provocative work of nonfiction." —BCCB, starred review "Ingeniously designed." —The New York Times This important work of nonfiction features powerful images of the Japanese American incarceration captured by three photographers—Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams—along with firsthand accounts of this grave moment in history. Three months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the incarceration of all Japanese and Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States. Families, teachers, farm workers—all were ordered to leave behind their homes, their businesses, and everything they owned. Japanese and Japanese Americans were forced to live under hostile conditions in incarceration camps, their futures uncertain. Three photographers set out to document life at Manzanar, an incarceration camp in the California desert: Dorothea Lange was a photographer from San Francisco best known for her haunting Depression-era images. Dorothea was hired by the US government to record the conditions of the camps. Deeply critical of the policy, she wanted her photos to shed light on the harsh reality of incarceration. Toyo Miyatake was a Japanese-born, Los Angeles–based photographer who lent his artistic eye to portraying dancers, athletes, and events in the Japanese community. Imprisoned at Manzanar, he devised a way to smuggle in photographic equipment, determined to show what was really going on inside the barbed-wire confines of the camp. Ansel Adams was an acclaimed landscape photographer and environmentalist. Hired by the director of Manzanar, Ansel hoped his carefully curated pictures would demonstrate to the rest of the United States the resilience of those in the camps. In Seen and Unseen, Elizabeth Partridge and Lauren Tamaki weave together these photographers' images, firsthand accounts, and stunning original art to examine the history, heartbreak, and injustice of the Japanese American incarceration. AWARENESS OF AMERICAN HISTORY: This impactful book engages with an underrepresented topic in American history, and highlights important and timely themes like primary sources, censorship, and visual literacy. SUBSTANTIAL BACKMATTER: Featuring eighteen pages of backmatter, including an Author's and Illustrator's Note, footnotes, photo credits, biographies of each photographer, and more.
No author available
· 2002
A biography of Woody Guthrie, a singer who wrote over 3,000 folk songs and ballads as he traveled around the United States, including "This Land is Your Land" and "So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh."
The work of eighty-five-year-old photographer Rondal Partridge will be celebrated by the California Historical Society and the Oakland Museum of California this year in two simultaneous exhibitions. Son of the renowned photographer Imogen Cunningham, Rondal began helping his mother with her work at the age of five. At seventeen he became Dorothea Lange's apprentice, driving her up and down the back roads of California as she created her now-famous images of migrant farm laborers. Partridge also worked for Ansel Adams in the 1940s, and it was his photograph of Adams that advertised the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Ansel Adams at 100 exhibition. Partridge's work has appeared in Audubon, Life, Fortune, and Scientific American for some sixty years.Intimately associated with the great photographers of his time, Partridge has absorbed all the techniques his famous teachers could give him, yet he wears this professional lineage lightly, dedicating himself to following the paths down which his own strange genius leads him.Quizzical Eye: The Photography of Rondal Partridge is filled with breathtakingly intimate portraits, devastating environmental statements, compositional wonders, and telling moments from six decades of American history -- the essential works of a man who has dedicated his long life to capturing single moments on film.