★ "Readers needn't be versed in the day's headlines to leave Her Right Foot with an arm in the air, raising not a torch but a fist."
—Shelf Awareness, starred review
A 2018 American Library Association Notable Children’s Book
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Picture Book of the Year
A 2018 Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book
A Junior Library Guild selection
“A friendly reminder of how America can be at its best.” —Entertainment Weekly
If you had to name a statue, any statue, odds are good you’d mention the Statue of Liberty.
Have you seen her?
She’s in New York.
She’s holding a torch.
And she’s in mid-stride, moving forward.
But why?
In this fascinating and fun take on nonfiction, Dave Eggers and Shawn Harris investigate a seemingly small trait of America’s most emblematic statue. What they find is about more than history, more than art. What they find in the Statue of Liberty’s right foot is the powerful message of acceptance that is essential of an entire country’s creation.
★ "Readers needn't be versed in the day's headlines to leave Her Right Foot with an arm in the air, raising not a torch but a fist."
—Shelf Awareness, starred review
★“An easy opening to the current vital discussion about re-immigration."
—School Library Connection, starred review
★ “Heartfelt throughout and indisputably timely.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “Eggers’s crucial and timely re-examination makes Liberty an active participant in a debate that is more contentious than ever.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ “Both thought-provoking and a readaloud delight.”
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review
★ “Unique and important.”
—School Library Journal, starred review
★ “In a time when immigration is a hot-button issue, it’s good to be reminded that Lady Liberty continues to lift her lamp beside the golden door.”
—Booklist, starred review
“I want to hold this book in one hand and a torch in the other and stand on an island someplace so everyone can see.”
—Lemony Snicket
“Beautiful, powerful, funny, moving. Eggers and Harris in perfect thoughtful harmony.”
—Inaugural National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Jon Scieszka
“It may be trite to call a book a love letter to America, but you read Her Right Foot and tell me Eggers and Harris aren’t in love with their country. You read it and tell me your heart doesn’t swell.”
—Adam Rex, author of The True Meaning of Smekday and bestselling illustrator of The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors
“The words, art, and inspiration in this wise, amusing, and illuminating book express how looking at something familiar from a different angle can-and must-change how we see our world’s past, present, and future.”
—Andrew Medlar, Chicago Public Library
“Fascinating, engrossing… a friendly reminder of how America can be at its best.”
—Entertainment Weekly
"A must-read for every man, woman and child in the land."
—The San Francisco Chronicle