Learning About Leadership from the Life of George Washington (Character Building Book)

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Summary: Teaching young students about Washington as a great leader
Review: Kiki Mosher's "Learning About Leadership from the Life of George Washington" is aimed at younger elementary school students. Each two-page spread offers a full-page picture (mostly painting of George Washington from around the time he lived) representing the chapter in his life. Most of the "chapters" (they are one page each) focuses on his military career as examples of Washington's leadership abilities. The problem, of course, is that for most of his military career Washington was a "failure," simply because he was on the losing side until pretty much the end of the Revolutionary War. Obviously this is a concept that will prove troubling to younger students and Mosher keeps the focus on Washington's great success in simply keeping the Continental Army together long enough to eventually win the American Revolution. The book does make it clear that there was no other choice to be the nation's first President and that Washington was universally admired. It also makes it clear how the President functions in our democracy. A glossary highlights 14 words students, such as "democracy" and "surveyor," are introduced to in the book (they appear boldfaced in the text along with the pronunciation in parentheses). This volume is "A Character Building Book," one of a series of volumes The other five books look at Abraham Lincoln and Honesty, Frederick Douglass and Dedication, Florence Nightingale and Compassion, Bravery and Harriet Tubman, and Fairness and Susan B. Anthony. The idea of focusing on specific character traits in terms of a diversified roster of famous Americans is certainly worth pursuing.