58. "Purple Mountain Majesties" by Barbara Younger

Purple Mountain Majesties tells the story of Katharine Lee Bates, author of "America the Beautiful," who was inspired to write the song after a brief visit to the top of Pikes Peak. This, of course, makes for relevant reading here where I live, in view of the peak, but Bates was on a cross-country train trip that included a visit to the Chicago World's Fair and plenty of other sightseeing.

The book is pretty text-heavy for beginning readers, but the picture-book format doesn't allow for as much depth as a conventional early-reader biography, so I'm not sure who the target audience is (something we talk about a lot in intro composition courses). But that said, it's an interesting read about a woman who made a lasting contribution to the music and lore of the United States.