50 Cities of the U.S.A. by Gabrielle Balkan
Author: Gabrielle Balkan
Illustrated by: Sol Linero
Format: Hardback, 112 Pages
ISBN: 9781847808707
Publisher: Wide-Eyed Editions
Series: The 50 States
From the team that brought you The 50 States comes 50 Cities of the USA. Explore skycraper streets, museum miles, local food trucks and city parks from Anchorage to Washington D.C., and discover more than 2,000 facts that celebrate the people, culture, and diversity that have helped make America what it is today.
Cities include Anchorage • Atlanta • Austin • Baltimore • Birmingham • Boise • Boston • Burlington • Charleston Charlotte • Cheyenne • Chicago • Cleveland • Columbus • Denver • Detroit • Hartford • Honolulu • Houston Indianapolis • Jacksonville • Kansas City • Las Vegas • Little Rock • Los Angeles • Louisville • Memphis Miami • Milwaukee • Minneapolis-St. Paul Nashville • New Orleans • New York • Newark • Newport • Oklahoma City • Philadelphia • Phoenix • Pittsburgh • Portland, MA • Portland, OR • Rapid City • Salt Lake City • San Francisco • Santa Fe • Seattle • St. Louis • Tucson • Virginia Beach • Washington, D.C.
Here are some fun facts about Baltimore:
- 7 FOOT KNOLL LIGHTHOUSE Lighthouse keepers in the 1870s lit the beacon lamp every evening and cleaned the lens every morning.
- B&O RAILROAD MUSEUM Explore artifacts from Maryland’s 1830 Mount Clare Station—the first railroad station in the United States.
- CYLBURN ARBORETUM This city park has gorgeous trees, gardens, and greenhouses that grow plants for the city’s parks.
- EMERSON BROMO-SELTZER TOWER Once Baltimore’s tallest building, this 15-story tower is home to 33 artists studios…and a fire station!
- GREAT FIRE OF 1904 Brave and strong fire horses like Goliath of Engine Company 15 helped fight fires before fire engines were invented.
- GREEN MOUNT CEMETERY The grave of the person who invented the Ouija board is shaped…like the spooky game!
- INNER HABOR Paddle boats here are modeled after “Chessie,” a fabled sea monster said to swim Chesapeake Bay.
- JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE was the first U.S. medical school to admit women and use rubber gloves during surgery, both in the 1890s.
- LEXINGTON MARKET is the place to get Maryland’s famously sweet blue crabs, who can only move side to side—they can’t go forwards or backwards!
- McCORMICK SPICE In 1889, an entrepreneurial 25-year-old sold these spices door-to-door. Today, some 2,000 people work here.
- NAACP Founded in 1909 by leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois and Mary White Ovington, this civil rights organization supports equal opportunity.
- NATIONAL MUSEUM OF DENTISTRY Here, brush a giant set of chompers, see George Washington’s dentures and bizarre vintage toothbrushes.
- ORIOLE PARK AT CAMDEN YARDS This beautiful ballpark displays statues of Oriole greats like Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, and Cal Ripton Jr.
- PATTERSON PARK is a muddy stop on the annual 14-mile Kinetic Sculpture Race; competitors build outrageous, usually bike-powered, floats that travel on water and land.
- REGINALD F. LEWIS MUSEUM An annual Kwanzaa party celebrates seven principles, like Kuumba: to leave our community more beautiful than we inherited it.
- THE AMERICAN INDIAN CENTER boasts art programs and a heritage museum with Lumbee art and culture exhibits.
- THE AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM celebrates creative, innovative art like that of Deborah Berger, an autistic “visionary” who created great work from yarn.
- THE BOOK THING Volunteers give away the some 200,000 books at this hot book spot—for free!
- THE MARYLAND ZOO is home to Rise and Conquer, two 1.8 lb ravens who are brothers, like to eat cat food and shred telephone books.
- THE MOUNT VERNON FLOWER MART is the un-official kick-off of lemon stick season, made with a peppermint stick and a lemon—yum!
- THE MOVIE HAIRSPRAY about 1960s Baltimore, created by local legend and movie director John Waters, is now a Broadway play.
- THE NATIONAL GREAT BLACKS IN WAX MUSEUM presents life-size wax figures of heroes like Zora Neale Hurston, Nelson Mandela, and Henry “Box” Brown, who, in 1849, mailed himself to freedom.
- THE PIGTOWN FESTIVAL annually celebrates the neighborhood’s roots as a site of German butchers with great food…and a pig race! Oink!
- TRANSAMAERICA TOWER For some 35 years, Peregrine falcons have lived on the 33rd floor of this, Baltimore’s tallest building.
- USS TORSK (SS-423) During WWII, U.S. submarines like this were named for fish. This sub is now a museum, re-painted as a shark!
About the Author
Author GABRIELLE BALKAN has worked with Scholastic, Harper Collins and Penguin. She lives and works in New York.
Illustrator SOL LINERO lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her clients include Scholastic, Oprah magazine, Jamie Oliver Magazine and Wired.
