Customer Reviews

Vote!

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was so impressed at how easy and enjoyable this book was to read. It's about time someone wrote a good children's book about voting. Most books about voting are dry, dull and totally detached. This book provides a likable protaganist and takes us through the voting and election process. Students of mine who have read non-fiction books on voting and been left totally confused as well as bored may finally "get it" with this one. Good job!

This is a good book for teaching kids about the voting process. I used it with my 3rd grade class and they enjoyed it. I'm not sure if it was listed on the product page, but the book was smaller than other copies of it I have seen, which made it hard to use as a read aloud.

I wholeheartedly believe that it's imperative that we teach children about the importance of voting. With the freedom of democracy in the United States, we have the ability to choose who we want to lead us. It's up to use to teach our children how wonderful that freedom really is!

Eileen Christelow presents VOTE! in an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand format, with fun characters and illustrations, that will appeal to even the youngest of readers. Although they may be too young to vote, children of all ages will learn how important that right is.

VOTE! presents the mayoral race of Chris Smith and Bill Brown, two opponents who both want to lead the city. They have different platforms on which they're running, different types of families, and different agendas and reasons that they want to be mayor.

Although the book is a bit one-sided in making one candidate out to be the "good guy" and one to be the "bad guy," children will be able to get a basic understanding of how elections work.

Also of interest is the glossary of election-related terms at the back of the book, along with a timeline of voting rights, interesting facts about political parties, and additional website resources for further exploration.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

Since citizenship education is becoming such a focus in the elementary shcools (and rightly so), it is good to see a really informative and kid-focused book about voting available to the grades that really need the boost. The pictures are engaging and colorful, and the "action" is enough to keep any kid interested. The timeline and glossary and excellent for teachers planning a lesson, and accessible to a kid who is looking for information for a report.

This is a great book to integrate into the classroom or to help your children understand the essentials of the primary element of democracy.

Recommended.

While I like the way the information is presented with the humor of the dogs along with the explanations, I have several problems with this book. #1 I disagree with presenting one candidate in a good light (Chris Smith who is portrayed to care about schools, and has her child campaigning for her, aka "liberals are compassionate"), and the other as a villian (Bill Brown, whose platform is portrayed to be based on building a new stadium, a cold businessman who doesn't like animals or care about children, aka "the non-compassionate conservative"). This nice candidate/mean candidate portrayal is a poor way to teach childen voting discernment. #2 At the end of the book, there is "A Timeline of Voting Rights". Again, this is a great idea- laying out these important dates to understand more easily. However, I find the comments regarding the 2000 Presidential Election troubling. The author carefully implies that the 2000 Presidential Election was bogus, and the 2002 voting act will take care of faulty elections in the future. I believe this book would've been much more effective had the author NOT brought biases into play.

After reading this book to my son, I was struck by how overt the message was to young readers that politics and your right to vote is a simple game played between the morally conscious, multi-cultural individual with the benevolent, compassionate and "correct beliefs" who deserves your support and vote (i.e. Liberal Democrat) VS the "other" side which represents a "mean-spirited" privilaged white majority dedicated to greed (erecting stadiums), exhibiting a lack of compassion (...hates dogs) and does not support education. This is just a typical "politically correct" view that attempts to "brainwash" our children with the liberal agenda that the educational establishment so richly supports.