So You Want to be President?

            How many times do we tell children that they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up?  How many times do those children say they want to be President?  Judith St. George’s book So You Want to be President? addresses those children who want to be President.  This book takes on a narrative voice that is rarely used, using a second-person voice, to give advice to all the aspiring Presidents in the United States.  This book presents factual information and trivia answers to the students couched in humor and fantastic pictures.

            The book begins on a light tone, telling the reader that if they do become President, there are some definite perks.  One perk is getting to live in the White House, a White House that is fully equipped with a bowling alley.  Another perk is the movie theater, the swimming pool, and the fact that when you become President, you no longer have to take out the trash.  The light-hearted tone continues as the narrator tells the reader some of the bad things about becoming president, bad things like always having to dress up and having people throw a cabbage at your head, like William Howard Taft did!

            This book takes a lot of time giving the reader tips if they want to be president.  For example, “You probably weren’t born in a long cabin.  Too bad.  People are crazy about log-cabin Presidents.  They elected eight.”  Good to know, huh?  It would also be a good idea if whoever wanted to be President changed their name to James.  Six Presidents have been named James—it doesn’t help if you are a John or a William either. Neither age, nor looks, nor size seem to matter, because the White House has hosted the old (Ronald Reagan), the young (Teddy Roosevelt), the ugly (sorry Abe Lincoln), and the, well, corpulent (William Howard Taft).  There really are lots of different men who have been President.

            Despite the humor in this book, St. George does not shy away from some of the more negative aspects of the President and the Presidency.  She talks about how, when Andrew Jackson was running for President, “his opponents printed a list of his duels, fights, shootings, and brawls!”  She also talks about how Warren Hardin gave away government jobs to his friends.  Students might be interested to find out that many of our Presidents did not have any formal education.  I especially like that it is mentioned how President Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath.  All in all, this book offers a delightful view of the characteristics and personalities of the men who have been in office.

            After reading this book once, it becomes very obvious why it won the Caldecott Medal in 2001.  The pictures are absolutely hilarious.  I feel like some of the Presidents would be very embarrassed to see them as David Small has depicted them.  Despite being cartoons, all the faces are recognizable to anyone familiar with the Presidents.  If you are not familiar with the Presidents’ faces, that’s okay too because there is a place in the back that tells you who is in all the illustrations.  I don’t know if Presidents William Harrison, William Taft, William McKinley, or William Clinton much appreciate being depicted as cheerleaders, complete with skirts and pom-poms.  The book is light-hearted, but when it needs to be serious, the illustrations reflect that.  On the pages that speak of dishonest Presidents, the colors are muted and Abraham Lincoln stares down severely from his monument.  I also really appreciate how David Small has Jesse James and Geraldine Ferraro standing behind a line that, at the time of this book, had never been crossed before.  He depicts African Americans and women waiting to have their turn at the Presidency.  One thing that I did not appreciate about this book is the picture on the very first page.  This picture depicts Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and they are both sitting in chairs.  President Roosevelt’s wheelchair is missing, and I think this is really detrimental to the book.  Why not have him sitting in his chair?  Why not validate the handicap by telling them that they too can become President?

            This book is a great introduction or a social studies lesson.  Instead of just talking about the Presidents like boring old men, this book gives them personality and spark.  I think this text is a very engaging one for students, and it could be a jumping off point for many different things.  Popular books tend to have lots of resources on the internet.  I found one resource that gives a bunch of ideas about different things you can do with the text.  Another resources that I liked, which can be found here, gives additional links and resources that can be used as an extension.