Grace for President (new jacket) [Hardcover]

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

Book Description

Release date: March 6, 2012 | 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!  

 

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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

Product Details

• Age Range: 5 - 9 years
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; Revised edition (March 6, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423139992
• ISBN-13: 978-1423139997
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 0.4 x 11.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,369 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.

5 of 5 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."