Author: Judith St. George
Illustrator: David Small
Category: Caldecott Medal Award Book
So You Want to Be President is a really funny and surprisingly informative little book, packed with facts from cover to cover about presidents from Washington to Clinton. The cartoonish caricatures of the presidents depict hilarious scenes, such as Nixon displaying his trademark Victory sign after bowling a strike in the White House bowling alley and William Howard Taft being lifted by crane into his specially designed bathtub (with a wine glass & chicken leg in his hands). Page after page, I kept saying to myself, “I didn’t know that”. The pages are chockfull of interesting little tidbits of trivia – funny, fascinating facts. One pages features Presidents Clinton and Nixon walked dejectedly down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, as the text discusses honesty and impeachment. I think my favorite page is the one that features a whole slew of presidents milling around a dinner party. JFK shakes hands with Lincoln, LBJ looks over the shoulder of Thomas Jefferson. The text explains that although the past 41 presidents were truly a mixed bag, there has still never been a person of color nor a woman elected as president. Geraldine Ferraro and Jesse Jackson stand together at a roped-off section of the room, unable to gain entrance to this exclusive club. How funny to think how things have changed in the past ten years. This book was published in 2000, and does not include either President George W. Bush or Barak Obama. Although the book is written in simplistic text that is easily understood by a child, it is also very entertaining for the adult reader. Everything from commonality of first names and places of birth to personality and success in office is discussed. I did not realize that two Presidents (Andrew Jackson & Herbert Hoover) were orphans. That struck me especially, since I am an adoptive mother myself. Each illustration in this book is thoughtful, creative, and very appealing. The faces on Mt. Rushmore come alive on the front cover and invite the reader to discover what’s inside. I think it is very deserving of the Caldecott Medal, not only because of the beauty of the illustrations, but also because of the careful attention to detail. I studied every detail of each page, not wanting to miss a hidden treasure. This book was shelved with and classified as a children’s fiction book, even though it is stuffed from cover to cover with presidential facts. This is the new insight I gained about children’s literature from reading this book. This is a picture book and is presented in a story format, but the story is comprised of information about the presidents – complete with a bibliography in the back. I didn’t realize that fiction books could sort of serve to deliver non-fiction information. This illustrator has also provided artwork for the following books: My Senator and Me: A Dog’s Eye View of Washington, DC, So You Want to Be An Explorer, So You Want to Be An Inventor, & American Politics: How It Really Works. These titles are very similar to his Caldecott award book, sharing the same cartoonish, caricatures in the illustrations and providing entertaining information about history. He has also illustrated numerous books that vary somewhat in the picture style – but those listed above are very similar to So You Want to Be President. I’ve never seen a book that is designed quite like this, so I think it’s very unique. I loved it & would love to see a new one that brings kids up to date with the newest president.
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