Title: So You Want to be President
Author: Judith St. George
Illustrator: David Small
Award: Caldecott Award Winner
Age: 9-14
This book was awarded the Caldecott Gold Medal in 2001 for
best children's literature to be published the previous year. The illustrations
are humorous and serious, always eye-catching and complementary to the script. The
text is equally entertaining and educational. This book is historical and
accurate. Presidential hobbies, sports, virtues, and vices all get a
tongue-in-cheek airing; the illustrations have a political-cartoon style of
caricature painting. It's fun, but the underlying purpose is clearly serious:
to remind kids that the American presidents have been a motley group of
individuals, not a row of marble busts. Ironically, that message makes the presidency
far more interesting and appealing than it seems in some of the more
traditional books. There's also a factual addendum at the back giving all the
dates and names, with a one-line bio for each past-president; I think this is a
nice addition to the book.
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