Yellowstone Moran: Painting the American West - Hardcover

Lita Judge is the author of One Thousand Tracings and Pennies for Elephants and the illustrator of several more books. She lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

Grade 3–5—Thomas Moran was an artist/illustrator who, in 1871, left the comforts of civilization to join a scientific expedition to the then largely unexplored Yellowstone region. He had never been an adventurer, but what he lacked in skill he made up for in effort. His detailed drawings, paintings, and journal entries helped convince the U.S. Congress to make Yellowstone our first national park. Judge's account of Moran's adventures is interesting and engaging. Though somewhat fictionalized, it is based on firsthand accounts. Throughout the story Judge includes quotations from Moran's notebooks and from the journals of others on the expedition. An author's note mentions Moran's further adventures, but there is little about his earlier life. Judge's watercolors are done in the style of Moran's artwork. They are painted with energetic lines and the rich, earthy colors of the American West. A reproduction of the artist's famous painting, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, appears on the final page. This book does a great job of introducing a somewhat obscure artist to a young audience.—Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT END