Biographies/Informational Book # 2

Author: Judith St. George
Title: So You Want to Be President?
Publisher: Philomel Books Date: 2000

Age level: Primary (K-2) Elementary (3-4)

Summary:
This is a book all about the first 42 presidents of the United States. It talks about how they were similar, how they were different, and what it takes to be president.

Strengths:
This book does a great job at breaking down complex concepts for elementary school children. It talks a lot about the different attributes of the presidents and different things that happened to them in terms easy enough for a young child to understand. When bad things happened, the author made sure to turn it around by making it into somewhat of a joke (with help of the great illustrations) and reassuring the reader that things are still okay. At first glance, it does not seem like it would be that exciting of a book, but I loved reading it and could not put it down! There is so much to see on each page and so many facts to learn. At the end there is even an appendix which gives a little biographical information on each president. It really is a terrific book.

Concerns:
My only concern with this book is that it is slightly outdated. There needs to be some additions made to the book to make it more accurate!

Classroom use/Other comments:
This book is perfect to use when introducing the different presidents of the United States and talking about roles of government. It would be wonderful to use during any history lesson of any of the presidents- even if you just pick out the pages that that specific president is on.