So You Want to Be President? (Caldecott Medal Book, 2001)

Rating:
Summary: Hail to the chiefs
Review: Books that contain amusing factoids about famous people, whether they be politicians, musicians, actors, or common schlubs like you and me, must be very carefully written. If penned successfully (as with Kathleen Krull's, "Lives of the Musicians") these books offer insights into the background and history of the lives of those who've made a difference in the world. If penned unsuccessfully, they come off as light little slips of books that haven't any weight or substance to them. "So You Want to Be President" isn't, perhaps, the weightiest picture book to discuss the office of the Presidency, but it does come off as a fairly successful venture. I'm not entirely certain that I would have given it a Caldecott Medal in 2001, but it does employ the talents of the fabulous David Small. For that alone, I salute it.

"So You Want to Be President" begins on an upbeat note. It points out that should you wish to fill the office of the presidency, there are advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include having your own bowling alley (note Henry Kissinger applauding the successful strike of Richard Nixon), you don't need to take out the garbage, and you get to live in the White House. The bad things include dressing up all the time, lots of homework, and the occasional thrown cabbage (though I would love to see an attempted cabbage tossing in this day and age). The book lists the common names of presidents, where they were born, and the winners of the "smallest" and "biggest" presidential awards (Madison and Taft respectively). The book continues in this manner, bringing up every thing from which president had the most brawls (probably nasty old Andrew Jackson) and the usefulness of having someone in the family who was already president. On the serious side, the book does note that both Nixon and Clinton were impeached for lying under oath (fortunately not mentioning exactly WHY this happened to Clinton). Oddly, it does not mention that Andrew Johnson was also impeached. Perhaps it just wanted to pair Clinton with Nixon on a page alone. It's only when you get to the end of the book that it thinks to mention that if you want to be president it probably helps to be male, white, and Protestant or Roman Catholic. There's a picture of Jesse Jackson and Geraldine Ferraro standing behind a black velvet rope, not allowed to mingle with the other Presidents. Interesting. In the end, the book includes the oath all Presidents must take and it tells you how to be a good President. The final line in the book is, "Most of all, their first priority has always been the people and the country they served". Well.... for most of them, maybe.

Actually, I think it's a pretty nice book. I certainly learned a couple of things I didn't know in it. If there's any way to make stodgy names like William McKinley and Warren Harding interesting, it's probably through books like this one. The text is fairly well written, gradually shifting the focus from fun facts to serious ones with a minimum of effort. It also (I am glad) gives proper credit to FDR's social reforms and JFK's Peace Corps volunteers. There's an interesting section in the back in which each president is given a one sentence bio, summing up his presidential term. This, perhaps out of all portions of the book, is the most partisan portion. A person's individual opinion will influence how he or she reads this section. For example, while I would prefer that the Andrew Jackson section mention his genocidal tendencies towards Native Americans (Trail of Tears, anyone?), the book simply states that he "greatly expanded the powers of the presidency". On the other hand, I was pleased to see that Ronald Regan was put down as having, "launched the largest peacetime military buildup in American history". Regardless of whether or not you think that was a good thing, it's true. There's also a nice Bibliography and guide to the people featured in the illustrations of the book.

But of course, the only reason this book got a Caldecott was because of illustrator David Small. I mean, let's be honest here people. Small should have won one years ago, so it's a little disappointing that he received the award for a book that neither he nor his wife Sarah Stewart wrote. Still, the book's a nice example of his work. Small began his career as a political cartoonist, and I think that skill has served him nicely in this work. Each president is recognizable and amusing. He even has a little black Scottie dog that, if you look carefully, steals one of George Washington's shoes and runs with it to the back of the book. It is my opinion that without Small this book would be a mildly interesting but unremarkable reference tome hidden away in school libraries across the country. With his aid, however, it has become so much more than that.

Regardless of your politics (unless you believe there shouldn't even BE a President of the United States, of course) this book is bound to go over well. A bi-partisan offering of presidents over the years, it fills the monumentally difficult task of giving the devils their due. No one is really left forgotten (with the possible exception of people like Millard Fillmore) and everyone has a say. Though this book is definitely a love song to a group of white males, of which some of whom are dead, let us hope that books like this in the future will contain people of all races and religions. If this book can encourage people from all walks of life to aspire to the presidency, it will be doing its job tenfold.


Rating:
Summary: Lots of Fascinating Fun Facts
Review: Did you know that six of our presidents were named James and four were named William? Or that James Madison was our smallest president at only five feet four inches, Abe Lincoln our tallest at six feet four inches and William Howard Taft weighed more than three hundred pounds? Did you know that most presidents went to college, but nine didn't and they included George Washington and Harry Truman. Presidents have come from all walks of life, had lots of different interests and hobbies and have found their way to the most powerful office in the world, in a variety of ways. Judith St. George has taken the stuffiness out of presidential history and written a very clever, witty book full of funny anecdotes and interesting facts. Her easy to read and enjoyable text is complimented by David Small's expressive and imaginative political cartoon-like illustrations. Together they take the some of the mystery out of the presidency and let future aspirants know that anyone can grow up to be president. This is a terrific book for 8-12 year olds, chock full of information and includes an appendix with dates and important contributions for each of our 41 presidents.

Rating:
Summary: When I grow up.
Review: Does your child ever say they want to be president some day? Or maybe they have started to study our past leaders in school but show no interest in learning about a bunch of dead guys? In either case, and many others, the book So You Want to Be President written by Judith St. George and illustrated by David Small may be just what is needed to pique your child's curiosity.
This brightly colored book gives all kinds of interesting and odd facts about all of our past presidents. It does not try to explain all of the complex duties the office entails so it is not beyond a child's range of understanding. And though the reading level is more for a youth of 5th grade or higher, the intriguing tidbits make for an interesting read for adults as well.
So You Want to Be President offers such details as "The president does not have to eat yucky vegetables...George Bush grew up, he became President. That was the end of broccoli," which appeals to almost every child's dislike of green nasty things and makes a connection for them with the an adult who held the highest station in our country. Other bits like the fact that Truman owned a men's shop, Andrew Johnson was a tailor and Reagan was an actor relays the idea that anyone can become President, no matter their beginnings. Yet another page of the book makes sure that the reader knows that one of the most important virtues needed to be the leader of the free world is honesty. St. George sights the impeachment of Clinton and the resignation of Nixon as examples. She states them as facts without the controversial sides that accompanied the issues.
In the last pages of the book, St. George lists each president and by what their term is most remembered. This gives a little more history than just the fun facts earlier in on. To go along with this, the illustrations are all charactures of each of the presidents. Each picture ties in with its text in a fun and attention drawing way. Because of this, even a child being read to because they are not at the reading level required can participate in the fun and learn something as well.
This book is a humorous look at presidents from the past including odd little details like which ones played instruments, who lived in log cabins, and who was the biggest, smallest, tallest, or shortest ever in office. It mixes education with fun by using true charactures in its bright illustrations finishing with explanations of each and every president. It is an excellent book to add to your child's shelf.

Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Gift
Review: I purchased this fine book during an inspired moment while watching the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I was more dozing (and boozing) than watching, but I did pay enough attention to know I was basically watching a very poorly scripted circus with some extremely strange cats making some poorly scripted promises and even poorer salutes of duty reporting. That's where this book can provide some insight.

The basic premise of Judith Saint George's fine book is one of inclusivity and encouragement: Anyone can be President. Fatties (like two of my first four wives and now my current bride), skinnies, shorties, tallies--even long-faced war "heroes" from Massachusetts. Since I think John sKerry is just a tad phony and self-serving and W much better (baseball!), I decided on this little book as my politcal message. Yep, one copy lovingly inscribed ("To JFK: You don't have my vote--ha ha ha") and shipped to Heinz headquarters made Old Hopperoo feel right as rain. What a great and useful book. Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: If you want to be president read this book
Review: If you're looking for something fun and entertaining about Presidents or the Presidency for ages 8 and up (including adults!), this is it!! This is simply a delightful book filled with great amusing trivia and anecdotes about the past presidents and the presidency in general. Wonderful lively text matched perfectly with bright, amusing, and fun-filled watercolor illustrations. I read the revised and updated version and whole-heartedly recommend buying it. I was greatly was amused to see the inclusion of more "recent events" - i.e., George W. Bush's presidency and Clinton's impeachment for lying under oath (poor Clinton now shares the two-page spread on this point with Nixon, who was previously a solo act). It's a history book that never seems like a history book. I really enjoyed it. I even learned a few things I didn't know as Political Science major and my first career as a lawyer.

Rating:
Summary: Clever way to interest students
Review: The blend of creative illustrations and informative text, written for the student, makes this a great book to have in any Social Studies class. The author uses dialogue that is simple to understand and, yet, informative. Background history on the Presidency and on the Presidency laws are humorous and straightforward. The illustrator uses caricature style artwork to aid in enhancing the text. This is appropriate, as political cartoons are often done in this style.
Specifics given, about different Presidents, aid in increasing the interest for the reader. Taft having a special tub built for the White House is one such tidbit of trivia that increases interest in learning about the Presidency. The main idea of how to become President is shown in a convoluted way through describing different Presidents' histories and campaigns. This does not diminish the author's ability to bring a complicated issue of becoming and being President from being marvelous

Rating:
Summary: Everyone's guaranteed to learn something!
Review: There are lots of kids who are reluctant to read anything that's not fiction, especially historical books. So You Want to be President? is a book that will appeal to those kids, and teach them interesting facts about the presidents of the United States. Even adults will learn something on each page. For instance did you know that William Howard Taft was so big that he had a bathtub made for him; and Theodore Roosevelt's children had dogs, cats, guinea pigs, snakes, mice, rats, badgers, raccoons, parrots, and a pony? Not only does this book have general facts about the presidents, it also lists important accomplishments-Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, and dishonest activities-Bill Clinton and his impeachment. The facts about the presidents are arranged so that the book becomes a story, and not a lecture about them.

The main point of this book is to show kids that a huge variety of people have been president, although the author does point out that there haven't been any women, people of color, or of any other religion besides Catholic and Protestant. In the back of the book is a listing of the presidents in order, along with a sentence about each of them that contains an interesting fact. I think kids could use this book as an introduction to the presidents, and perhaps as part of a project that they may do on the presidents.

Rating:
Summary: Compare and contrast the presidents
Review: This book briefly explains how the presidents were similar and different, while using caricatures for pictures. For instance, it tells children that many of the presidents had the same first names, and that several had a relative who was president. I wouldn't use it as a book for teaching about individual presidents. It basically explains some of the elements that might have influenced the public to vote for a particular president. My son loves the title, but isn't thrilled with the content. I would also recommend it as a primary book rather than one for older children.

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun!
Review: This is not your run-of-the-mill biography. The illustrations are fun and engaging. The pages are full of amusing facts and funny antidotes about the presidents. My favorite aspect of the book is how accessible the author makes these legends of US history. I think this is a great book to introduce young children to the presidents and serve as a stepping stone to futher study.

Rating:
Summary: So what about the presidents?
Review: You can learn so much about the presidents from this book. I learned things the first time I read it! The illustrations are excellent and the style is fun. I love this book and kids love it, too.