Grace for President [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Kelly S. DiPucchio (Author), LeUyen Pham (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: February 26, 2008 | Age Range: 5 - 9 years

"Where are the girls?"

 

When Grace's teacher reveals that the United States has never had a female president, Grace decides to be the first.  And she immediately starts off her political career as a candidate the school's mock election.  But soon, she realizes that she has entered a tough race.  Her popular opponent claims to be the "best man for the job"--and seems to have captured all the male votes--while Grace concentrates on being the best person.

 

In this timely story, author Kelly DiPucchio not only gives readers a fun introduction to the American electoral system, but also teaches them the value of hard work, courage, and independent thought--and offers an inspiring example of how to choose our leaders.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

DiPucchio and Pham are game gals. Explaining the electoral system to adults isn’t easy, but  they make it understandable to kids. When Mrs. Barrington shows her class pictures of the presidents, energetic African American Grace asks, “Where are the girls?” Responding to Grace’s shock, Mrs. Barrington arranges for an election in which Grace runs against Tom, with each of the remaining students in the multiethnic class representing a state. It looks like popular Tom will win since the boys have the most electoral votes, so Tom just sits back while Grace advances campaign promises. When the votes are counted, Sam, representing Wyoming (where the first woman was elected to the House), throws the winning votes to Grace, because he “thought she was the best person for the job.”  The attractive paint-and-collage art captures the excitement of the race in layouts as diverse as the kids. However, there’s one big problem in the author’s note, which explains why individuals should vote even if they are not electing directly: “It’s those individual votes from regular people that add up to become the popular vote in each state.” The concept of larger versus smaller states isn’t really explained, leaving the idea that the winner of the popular vote will be president. As Al Gore knows, that’s not true. Grades 1-3. --Ilene Cooper

About the Author

Kelly DiPucchio (www.kellydipucchio.com) has written several children's picture books including the New York Times bestseller Grace for President, Bed Hogs, Liberty's Journey, and Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom! A graduate of Michigan State University, Kelly lives in southern Michigan with her husband and three children.

LeUyen Pham (http://www.leuyenpham.com/) is the prolific and bestselling illustrator of many books for children, including Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio, Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore and God's Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Pham has also written and illustrated her own works, including All the Things I Love About You and Big Sister, Little Sister. A former animator for Dreamworks, she lives with her husband and two sons in San Francisco

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Age Range: 5 - 9 years
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786839198
• ASIN: B001Q3M5RQ
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #550,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kelly DiPucchio is the award-winning author of several children's books, including New York Times bestseller, GRACE FOR PRESIDENT, and THE SANDWICH SWAP, a book co-authored for Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, which President Bill Clinton called "a delightful story." Kelly has been a featured author/speaker at numerous schools, public libraries, universities, and conferences such as: the International Reading Association, Michigan Reading Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. You can visit her online at www.kellydipucchio.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars great! more books like this please! April 9, 2008

By cambridge reader

Format:Hardcover

Grace discovers that no women have ever been president, and decides she'll be president one day. The teacher (hooray for her!) picks up on this and decides to run a school-wide election for president to teach the kids about presidential politics - including the unfathomable electoral college! At first no one challenges Grace, and she thinks "becoming president will be easy" but then a white boy from another class is recruited as her rival. All the usual campaign issues follow, until Grace is victorious by a narrow margin. An inspiring read. I will definitely be reading it to my daughter later- at 3 y.o this book is too complex for her, and has too much text per page to hold her interest. Probably more appropriate for 5 or 6 year olds.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Really resonates. June 13, 2008

By Julienne Cassarino

Format:Hardcover

Of all the "election" books I could find, this one really stood out as being entertaining, informative, and extremely insightful. While Hillary's run is now over, the book subtely points out that at our most basic level we identify with our gender over other differences; and the use of Wyoming, "The Equality State", to overcome the gender bias is really well-done. The character Grace's honest incredulity that there has never been a woman president despite the obvious 50/50 split of girls and boys resonates in a sweet way.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect read before the inauguration January 31, 2009

By Ari's Mom

Format:Hardcover

A friend to whom I will always be indebted gifted my 4 yo daughter with this book. I read it to her the night before the inauguration. She hung on every word, asking questions about the electoral college, her eyes drinking in every colorful, fancifully animated page. This book is a true work of art.

I was moved when I got to the next to the last page: when the children who'd laughed at Grace for thinking she could run for president, finally accorded her respect and admiration. I looked down at my smiling, cinnamon-faced child with her curly, happy braids, and my eyes filled with tears. The very last page...well, you'll just have to see it. It was descriptive of everything you'd want for your child. The realization that, finally, my daughter could hope for such a life, flooded me with emotion.

The next morning, we watched Michelle Obama hold a velvet-covered Bible for her husband. After he uttered "So help me, God," followed by the rousing cheers of millions, my daughter turned to me and said, "So, do we have a black girl president now?"

So, maybe she was a little confused. But all I could think was "Someday, Sugar."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book! May 22, 2008

By Stanley Cup VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This is a fabulous book that can be used as a primer for educating children about how elections work in our country. Kelly DiPucchio has taken a complicated subject and made it completely user friendly for children to understand. It is a fun story to read, and factual at the same time. I love how the author assigned children in the classroom to represent states and their electoral votes. I loved that her character was a girl that decided enough was enough and it was time for a woman to become president without making an issue out of which political party she represented. And I loved that at the end of the book, the deciding delegate cast his vote for the best "person" to do the job. This is just a great book and very timely for an election year. Go Grace!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children January 25, 2009

By Yana V. Rodgers

Format:Hardcover

Elementary school student Grace Campbell has brains, a delightful personality, and a sincere desire to make things better for people around her. She also knows how to dream big, and when she learns at school that the United States has never had a female president before, Grace decides then and there that she would like to become President. Not one to discourage her students, the teacher immediately suggests a school election to start the process, and Grace soon discovers that she has an opponent: Thomas Cobb. Will her clever campaign strategy and her do-good personality help to overcome the fact that the boy students, who represent states with slightly more electoral votes than the states represented by the girls, tend to favor Thomas?

This clever book does an excellent job in introducing to children an intuitive lesson in how the Electoral College system operates for electing the U.S. president, and how votes are allocated across states. This lesson is wrapped up in an exciting plotline, a spunky lead character, and bold, engaging illustrations. Grace for President is a valuable addition to any collection of children's books that rank highly in both content and appeal.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The cutest and likable January 2, 2009

By T. McNeil

Format:Hardcover

Grace for President was a likable story. My 8 year old enjoyed reading it. Grace and her schoolmates are the cutest. This book is wonderful, it's colorful and easy for children to understand. I can see more children running for class president after reading this likable and loving story.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Current affairs July 29, 2008

By Elizabeth B. Schnepp

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

My two granddaughters loved this book. They are 5 and 6 years old. They have requested that it be read many times.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Girls of the USA - believe! August 9, 2008

By abuelita

Format:Hardcover

Three generations of females in my family (ages 6, 26, and 65) are thrilled by this story!
Buy it now, in this election year in the US, if you've got any girls in your family.