Customer Reviews

My Dad, John McCain

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really enjoyed this book. I bought it for my sons who are 9 & 7. It 's nice to be able to explain to them why he is such an American Hero.

I'm not a parent, but if I was, this would be a book I'd share with my children to help them understand the character of the man running for President. The illustrations are sweet pencil drawings from well known photographs... and some not so well known of John McCain and family. The narrative is short and sweet for any child of 5 or 6 to be able to read and understand for the most part.

McCain's well known prisoner of war experience is not glossed over, but it is not gruesome. You do not see faces of angry Vietcong that attacked him in the water or anything that would frighten children or the like. I think the book does a fair representation of the man, his character and his family's hope that he is successful in the 2008 election.

My less than perfect review is because the book is lacking. To rise above just being a propaganda-for-kiddos book, I would have really liked to have read a cute story that Meghan McCain (the author, and eldest daughter of Senator McCain) remembered about her father as a child - perhaps teaching her to ride a bike, fly a kite, or staying with her when she was sick or something. I think it would make the book not even more relevant to children who are clearly the audience for this book, but also for adults who read it with or to their kids - to get a feel for the man behind the sometimes sandpaper exterior.

Senator McCain has said himself that he will win no awards for Miss Congeniality. He can't come off as a sap or a softy in commercials or in interviews - but this book would have been a great opportunity to include some of his sweeter side for public consumption. I hope that no matter how the election turns out, that the author will update this book, including more pictures and stories of growing up the child of a Senator. The book is about John McCain, but the title is "My Dad, John McCain." I don't know a lot about Meghan other than she was born in 1984, is the eldest daughter of John & Cindy McCain and that she wrote this book. I don't have any idea if her father ever took her and her siblings to Six Flags or Disney World, or if they ever went on a family vacation or anything relevant concerning a father-daughter relationship other than he is her father and there's a sweet illustration on the cover of him holding her as a child and another one that is a graduation photo illustration.

This is a nicely illustrated, well done first book for such a young author, but it could be so much better and has a lot of potential to be improved if it is revised and updated after the election. It is very dated, even with the date "September 2008" cited in there. This story will have more of a shelf life if it is updated and made into a timeless children's book.

This is a brief biography of an American Hero, Arizona State Senator and 2008 Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain. The book is written by McCain's oldest daughter from his second marriage, Miss Meghan McCain.

It gives a personal look into Senator McCain's background from the Naval service of his father and grandfather, his adolescence, college years at Annapolis, and his career in the U.S. Navy. We get a glimpse of his character, as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and his fortitude to remain a prisoner until the conclusion of the war.

The second half of the book jumps to Mr. McCain's career as a public servant in the U.S. Congress.

The book is well illustrated and captures the emotions that Miss McCain is communicating in her narrative.

It is a lesson in service to one's country, one's history, and one's character.

The book is appropriate for first graders through middle school/junior high school.

The work is a great tribute to an American Hero and Statesman. It is a book about a man who loves his family, military tradition and this nation. His story instills personal and national pride that many people should emulate.

Highly recommend this book.

This girl is just plain stupid!! She can't write. Se can't think. What can she do??? Spend her daddys money.

Wonderfully written by the daughter of John McCain. You could feel the love put into this book. Great history lesson for kids and adults alike. I highly recommmend it.

This is a wonderful book by Meghan McCain written for children to explain why she believes her father would make a good president. She mainly addresses that by going over John McCain's life and how he has lived it. It is a nice story and she tells it well. A great addition to any school library or classroom.

In My Dad, John McCain Meghan McCain does a super job of telling children about a true American hero that just happens to be her father, without being over the top or overtly political. Beautifully illustrated, with the feel of a family album. More than suitable for classroom use.

A very sweet and moving book written for children about a great American hero. The book is written for children

Meghan McCain, My Dad, John McCain (Aladdin, 2008)

Expecting an objective portrait of a person in any book written by one of that person's relatives seems to me a pipe dream; either the book's going to be a rostrum for praise or a cesspit for excoriation. Given that this is a kids' book, you can guess which one applies here, but then given that this is a kids' book, you also have to wonder whether this sort of thing isn't systematic, even in books not written by family members. (A few turns through kidlit biographies of even America's most notorious attackers of the cultural norms--Benedict Arnold, for example, or Edgar Allan Poe--tend to whitewash the gory details.) I won't use this as a forum for getting into a one-sided discussion about how we need to quit sheltering kids from bad behavior (or perceived bad behavior, depending on your personal mores), but such questions are worth keeping in the back of your mind where kidlit bios are concerned.

Not that there's much to be said in the final analysis about the Great Evils of John McCain; two hundred years down the road, people will probably look back at McCain and think of him as another lovable American rogue a la, say, Martin van Buren (or Charles Randolph Kane, who often seems more real than most of our actual historical figures). Even mentioning him in the same review as Benedict Arnold, though I would never think to draw a comparison between the two, is likely to arouse the ire of those who interpret things far beyond what the text will allow. My Dad, John McCain, on the other hand, will give those folks no ammo. (This is good, because I have a sneaking suspicion most of those folks are just as Republican as I was, long long ago.) McCain's daughter Meghan, whom it must be said really does have a touch for storytelling, lays out some of the high points of her dad's career in what is, essentially, an extended campaign ad. As such, I'm probably coming to this as a reviewer far too late; the 2008 election was over long before 2010. And given its fiction as a campaign ad, it must by necessity lack the substance to have a lasting kidlit-bio stature. But it's still worth at least getting out of your library to compare and contrast general kidlit-bio writing with Meghan McCain's; my use of the word "storyteller" above is not just meant as a synonym for "author". Storytellers have a particular tone; were this an adult book, I'd probably use the metaphor of the guy sitting next to you at the bar, popping peanuts and talking with his hands, making everyone around him laugh. That's a storyteller, and that's not the kind of diction one usually gets in a biography, kidlit or no. (One, at least this one, would like to see McCain tackle the same info in a longer format; a hundred twenty-eight page young-adult bio, perhaps, that's actually bio and not campaign material.) It tells me Meghan McCain may actually have a future as a biographer, or maybe even a novelist. Time will tell.

And now I've written a review that's probably three times as long as the book I'm reviewing. Loquaciousness has ever been my downfall. End result: not without flaws, but not nearly as bad as I was expecting. ***

Sometimes in political campaigns, people get all angry at candidates like they are an opposing baseball team and they forget that they are real people and deserve to be celebrated and recognized as people. Childish name calling rips off SO many people when it comes to politics.

In the case of John McCain, despite me formerly making judgments on him based upon information acquired through media, I was amazed to realize that I had so overlooked him as a person.

In the book MY DAD, JOHN MCCAIN, Meghan McCain writes a lovely book about her father in language that young children can understand. Regardless of what he is thought of politically, I think it is a good thing for children to know something about famous political figures as PEOPLE not just from what razzle dazzle is (or in this case is not) force fed to us on TV.

Meghan McCain is proud of her father, and everyone in my family was impressed with her simple yet direct explanations of why her father would make a good President of the United States, but also why she was proud of him and why she admires him.

Such a book is good for children to read- it shows a daughter who is very proud of her father- and for good reason, John McCain is a hero for the United States.

Although she explains his prisoner of war experience it is very light weight for children- it will not overwhelm them. Also, she explains simply how many good and valuable qualities he has, determination being one of them.

Lastly, the book is covered with very nice illustrations done by Dan Andreasen. They colors are lovely and the drawing/paintings are beautifully done.

This book is an excellent book for young people to read about one of the many American Heroes , but especially because it is from a daughter that loves her dad.

It is not the BEST book I have ever read, but it is a nice simple book.

For anyone else to say anything bad about it, is just sour political grapes from someone who does not understand or value family or the heritage of the United States and should not be paid attention to.