Picture Book #14--So You Want to Be President

Title:  So You Want to Be President

Author:  Judith St. George

Illustrator:  David Small

Grade Level Equivalent:  N/A

Lexile Measure:  730L

Genre:  Children's Literature

Subgenre:  Biography

Theme:  How past presidents of the U.S. got the job.

Primary and Secondary Characters:  the 42 Presidents of the United States

Awards:  Caldecott Medal (Won, 2001)

Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Won, 2002)

Show Me Readers Award (Nominated, 2003)

Bluegrass Award (Won, 2002)

Volunteer State Book Award (Nominated, 2003)

School Library Journal Best Books of the Year (Won, 2000)
Garden State Children's Book Awards (Won, 2003)

American Library Association Notable Books for Children (Won, 2001)

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award (Nominated, 2002)

New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Won, 2000)

Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books (Won, 2000)

ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Awards (Won, 2001)

Prairie Pasque Award (Nominated, 2003)
William Allen White Children's Book Award (Nominated, 2003)

Bluebonnet Award (Nominated, 2002)

Date of Publication:  2000

Publisher:  Penguin Group

ISBN:  0399234071

So You Want to Be President tells how each of the first forty-two presidents of the United States (up to Bill Clinton) came to get the job.  It lists different attributes each man had, pros and cons to being president (pro: bowling alley in the White House; con: sometimes people throw cabbage at you), and trivia facts about the forty-two men, such as there were six presidents named James, four named John, four named William, and two named George, Andrew, and Franklin.  It tells how many presidents served in the military, and other jobs the men held before being elected, what kind and how many pets the presidents had living with them in the White House, and how many Vice Presidents succeeded into the Presidential role and under what circumstances.  At the end of the book, there is a list of the presidents, in order in which they served, along with biographical information such as birthdate and place, date of death, and something significant that each man did during his presidency.

This book would be great to have in a classroom to read to the students around Presidents Day.  It gives a lot of factual knowledge about each man and has a lot of bright, funny illustrations of the presidents, done in a caricature-type style.  The only problem with the book is that it is not up-to-date.  It only goes up to Bill Clinton and does not include anything about George W. Bush or President Barack Obama.  It also states that there has never been a President of color, which was true at the time of publication but is irrelevant now.  On any note, this would be an excellent book to read to children.  They will get a good laugh out of the pictures and some of the stories involving the men who have led our country.  It would also be a great book to spark a creative writing assignment, something like "What would you do if you were President of the United States?".