Customer Reviews

So You Want to be President?

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Did you know that six of our presidents were named James and four were named William? Or that James Madison was our smallest president at only five feet four inches, Abe Lincoln our tallest at six feet four inches and William Howard Taft weighed more than three hundred pounds? Did you know that most presidents went to college, but nine didn't and they included George Washington and Harry Truman. Presidents have come from all walks of life, had lots of different interests and hobbies and have found their way to the most powerful office in the world, in a variety of ways. Judith St. George has taken the stuffiness out of presidential history and written a very clever, witty book full of funny anecdotes and interesting facts. Her easy to read and enjoyable text is complimented by David Small's expressive and imaginative political cartoon-like illustrations. Together they take the some of the mystery out of the presidency and let future aspirants know that anyone can grow up to be president. This is a terrific book for 8-12 year olds, chock full of information and includes an appendix with dates and important contributions for each of our 41 presidents.

Political times are here! Campaign promises are in the air. Do these two candidates--Barack Obama and John McCain have the "right stuff?" Let's check them out against previous presidents.

"So You Want to Be President" is filled with all kinds of facts about all previous 42 presidents. Oh, I heard you--you're right, there have been 43 presidents. This book, written by Judith St. George and illustrated by David Small and published in 2000 just before the election, contains all kinds of facts about the men who have been president.

If you are a blood relative of a president, your chances go up to become a president. Father and son twice, grandfather/grandson, fifth cousins, and second cousins. You don't have to be handsome to be president--Lincoln wasn't and he certainly stands the test of time. Harding was handsome and he is rated one of the worst presidents. And there's Bill Clinton...

Nine presidents played instruments; nine did not go to college. Jefferson was "top-notch in the brains department." Ten presidents were generals in the military. Almost any job can lead to the White House, including tailor and actor. If you are dishonest, you get kicked out.

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 will be a classic because it is historical and accurate. A delightful journey through American history, particularly the presidents, makes this a welcome addition to any library collection.

Does your child ever say they want to be president some day? Or maybe they have started to study our past leaders in school but show no interest in learning about a bunch of dead guys? In either case, and many others, the book So You Want to Be President written by Judith St. George and illustrated by David Small may be just what is needed to pique your child's curiosity.
This brightly colored book gives all kinds of interesting and odd facts about all of our past presidents. It does not try to explain all of the complex duties the office entails so it is not beyond a child's range of understanding. And though the reading level is more for a youth of 5th grade or higher, the intriguing tidbits make for an interesting read for adults as well.
So You Want to Be President offers such details as "The president does not have to eat yucky vegetables...George Bush grew up, he became President. That was the end of broccoli," which appeals to almost every child's dislike of green nasty things and makes a connection for them with the an adult who held the highest station in our country. Other bits like the fact that Truman owned a men's shop, Andrew Johnson was a tailor and Reagan was an actor relays the idea that anyone can become President, no matter their beginnings. Yet another page of the book makes sure that the reader knows that one of the most important virtues needed to be the leader of the free world is honesty. St. George sights the impeachment of Clinton and the resignation of Nixon as examples. She states them as facts without the controversial sides that accompanied the issues.
In the last pages of the book, St. George lists each president and by what their term is most remembered. This gives a little more history than just the fun facts earlier in on. To go along with this, the illustrations are all charactures of each of the presidents. Each picture ties in with its text in a fun and attention drawing way. Because of this, even a child being read to because they are not at the reading level required can participate in the fun and learn something as well.
This book is a humorous look at presidents from the past including odd little details like which ones played instruments, who lived in log cabins, and who was the biggest, smallest, tallest, or shortest ever in office. It mixes education with fun by using true charactures in its bright illustrations finishing with explanations of each and every president. It is an excellent book to add to your child's shelf.

Although this book is "rated" for grades 3-5, it's my kindergarten-aged child who loves it most. The book is an entertaining and informative intro to the variety of men who have served in the presidency. Small's illustrations are fun and imaginative, yet accurate enough that each president is easily recognizable. The major presidents are highlighted. We really like the chronological index at the end which, in two or three sentences, summarizes each man's presidential contributions. Emily chose this before it won its award, but it was already a winner in our house!

My third grade teacher read this book to my class. I found the book to be hilarious. It has funny facts about the presidents in American history and it wasn't made up, all these facts are true. I like to read this book over and over again. It is a teacher's choice.

This book provides the most fun view of the past presidents that it has been my pleasure to read. Around age 3, most children begin to think about what they want to do "when I grow up." Speculation often centers around visible careers like being a mommy, teacher, nurse, fireman, doctor or gas station attendant (at least in our family). So You Want to Be President brilliantly captures that young child's perspective by looking at the pros (you have a house to live in, the White House, and some pretty neat sports alternatives) and cons (it's hard and difficult work), and goes on to point out that people from many backgrounds with different skills (from soldiers to store clerks) have become president. The result is to make the idea of becoming president more interesting and accessible. Who knows? This book may even inspire your child to become a great president (of some volunteer organization, if not of the United States). Wouldn't that be wonderful!

The presidents are taken off of their monumental marble thrones, and presented here as real people. There is humor. Lincoln denied he was two-faced because that would be a mistake in light of the face he had (he was not the most attractive fellow). There is honesty. Clinton and Nixon lied and suffered for it. There is trivia. How many presidents had their clothes stolen by female reporters while skinny dipping? There is religious information. All of the presidents have been Protestants or Catholics. You get statistics on how many vice presidents have made it to the top job, and how. Unless you are a trivia expert on the presidency, at least some of this will be new to you. All of it will be new, and most of it interesting, to your child.

The book ends with some very good advice (no matter what profession or occupation you pursue). "If you want to be President -- a good President -- pattern yourself after the best." "Most of all, their first priority has always been the people and the country they served." Can you think of any set of better standards for leadership?

Caldecott Award winners are selected for their illustrations. You will find David Small's work here as rewarding as Judith St. George's text. He makes brilliant use of variable thickness ink for distinctive, impressionistic outlines of people and objects. The outlines strengthen and define warm watercolor splashes and washes. The result is the sort of feeling provided by illustrations I have seen from the 18th century, when our country was founded. Yet the facial expressions and bodies are friendly caricatures that humanize their subjects. I really felt for John Quincy Adams stuck in that river while the reporter ran off with his clothes. There's also a sprightliness reminiscent of the way Disney draws Jiminy Cricket.

Here are three trivia questions that will give you a sense of the book:

1. Who was Harry Truman's vice president?

2. What favorite story did he tell about becoming vice president?

3. What musical instruments did both Harry Truman and Richard Nixon play?

After you have enjoyed this book many times, I suggest that you and your child pick out some other, less visible occupations, and talk about them in the same way. This format will help you make the work alternatives that are currently unknown to your child much more real and interesting. Don't forget to point out all of the many ways that we need presidents in our society. From the PTA to the largest corporation, we can never have too many good leaders.

Help your child find places where she or he can be him- or herself, do her or his best, and serve others in a way that makes him or her feel terrific!

My name is Andrew Fuller. I am 9 and a presidential expert. I reccomend this book for all kids, I collect Presidential books and this is my favorite one on funny stories about the Presidents. I gave a copy of it to George W Bush last week when I got to meet him in Tampa, Florida. The author is going to have to update it and put him in it also!

Books that contain amusing factoids about famous people, whether they be politicians, musicians, actors, or common schlubs like you and me, must be very carefully written. If penned successfully (as with Kathleen Krull's, "Lives of the Musicians") these books offer insights into the background and history of the lives of those who've made a difference in the world. If penned unsuccessfully, they come off as light little slips of books that haven't any weight or substance to them. "So You Want to Be President" isn't, perhaps, the weightiest picture book to discuss the office of the Presidency, but it does come off as a fairly successful venture. I'm not entirely certain that I would have given it a Caldecott Medal in 2001, but it does employ the talents of the fabulous David Small. For that alone, I salute it.

"So You Want to Be President" begins on an upbeat note. It points out that should you wish to fill the office of the presidency, there are advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include having your own bowling alley (note Henry Kissinger applauding the successful strike of Richard Nixon), you don't need to take out the garbage, and you get to live in the White House. The bad things include dressing up all the time, lots of homework, and the occasional thrown cabbage (though I would love to see an attempted cabbage tossing in this day and age). The book lists the common names of presidents, where they were born, and the winners of the "smallest" and "biggest" presidential awards (Madison and Taft respectively). The book continues in this manner, bringing up every thing from which president had the most brawls (probably nasty old Andrew Jackson) and the usefulness of having someone in the family who was already president. On the serious side, the book does note that both Nixon and Clinton were impeached for lying under oath (fortunately not mentioning exactly WHY this happened to Clinton). Oddly, it does not mention that Andrew Johnson was also impeached. Perhaps it just wanted to pair Clinton with Nixon on a page alone. It's only when you get to the end of the book that it thinks to mention that if you want to be president it probably helps to be male, white, and Protestant or Roman Catholic. There's a picture of Jesse Jackson and Geraldine Ferraro standing behind a black velvet rope, not allowed to mingle with the other Presidents. Interesting. In the end, the book includes the oath all Presidents must take and it tells you how to be a good President. The final line in the book is, "Most of all, their first priority has always been the people and the country they served". Well.... for most of them, maybe.

Actually, I think it's a pretty nice book. I certainly learned a couple of things I didn't know in it. If there's any way to make stodgy names like William McKinley and Warren Harding interesting, it's probably through books like this one. The text is fairly well written, gradually shifting the focus from fun facts to serious ones with a minimum of effort. It also (I am glad) gives proper credit to FDR's social reforms and JFK's Peace Corps volunteers. There's an interesting section in the back in which each president is given a one sentence bio, summing up his presidential term. This, perhaps out of all portions of the book, is the most partisan portion. A person's individual opinion will influence how he or she reads this section. For example, while I would prefer that the Andrew Jackson section mention his genocidal tendencies towards Native Americans (Trail of Tears, anyone?), the book simply states that he "greatly expanded the powers of the presidency". On the other hand, I was pleased to see that Ronald Regan was put down as having, "launched the largest peacetime military buildup in American history". Regardless of whether or not you think that was a good thing, it's true. There's also a nice Bibliography and guide to the people featured in the illustrations of the book.

But of course, the only reason this book got a Caldecott was because of illustrator David Small. I mean, let's be honest here people. Small should have won one years ago, so it's a little disappointing that he received the award for a book that neither he nor his wife Sarah Stewart wrote. Still, the book's a nice example of his work. Small began his career as a political cartoonist, and I think that skill has served him nicely in this work. Each president is recognizable and amusing. He even has a little black Scottie dog that, if you look carefully, steals one of George Washington's shoes and runs with it to the back of the book. It is my opinion that without Small this book would be a mildly interesting but unremarkable reference tome hidden away in school libraries across the country. With his aid, however, it has become so much more than that.

Regardless of your politics (unless you believe there shouldn't even BE a President of the United States, of course) this book is bound to go over well. A bi-partisan offering of presidents over the years, it fills the monumentally difficult task of giving the devils their due. No one is really left forgotten (with the possible exception of people like Millard Fillmore) and everyone has a say. Though this book is definitely a love song to a group of white males, of which some of whom are dead, let us hope that books like this in the future will contain people of all races and religions. If this book can encourage people from all walks of life to aspire to the presidency, it will be doing its job tenfold.

I purchased this book for my two children (3rd and 4th graders) hoping that they could use it for a book report. Both read the book in less than an hour. They liked the breezy style and clever pictures. Child perspective narrative such as "The President has lots of homework" kept up the interest level and gave them a chuckle or two. But, at less than 48 pages (some of which are pictures only)the book is much too short for book reports or any serious reading at this grade level.

The blend of creative illustrations and informative text, written for the student, makes this a great book to have in any Social Studies class. The author uses dialogue that is simple to understand and, yet, informative. Background history on the Presidency and on the Presidency laws are humorous and straightforward. The illustrator uses caricature style artwork to aid in enhancing the text. This is appropriate, as political cartoons are often done in this style.
Specifics given, about different Presidents, aid in increasing the interest for the reader. Taft having a special tub built for the White House is one such tidbit of trivia that increases interest in learning about the Presidency. The main idea of how to become President is shown in a convoluted way through describing different Presidents' histories and campaigns. This does not diminish the author's ability to bring a complicated issue of becoming and being President from being marvelous