"So you want to be President?" by Judith St. George, Illustrated by David Small

Image Courtesy of: http://davidsmallbooks.com/images/books/president.jpg

Bibliographic Citation

Title: So you want to be President?

Author: Judith St. George

Illustrator: David Small

Year of Publication: 2004

Publisher City: New York

Publisher: Philomel Books

ISBN: 0399243178

Author Website: http://www.judithstgeorge.com/

Illustrator Website: http://davidsmallbooks.com/

Media Used for Artwork: Ink, Watercolor, Pastel Chalk

Awards

·         American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Book, 2001

·         Caldecott Medal, 2000

Annotation

An overview of the many presidents of the United States of America, teaching readers about presidents’ unique traits and interesting facts to help teach children about what it takes to be president.

Personal Reaction

                Humor I think is something that is needed in schools to help students learn.  Just having to memorize facts will not keeps students interests.  This picture book is a good example of how humor can in fact be educational.  The unique facts mentioned about the Presidents make them all memorial.  This book can interest a reader so he or she would want to conduct further research about a president that catches his or her attention.

                The illustrations are very similar to the caricatures seen in political cartoons.  This shows that Small respects the readers of the books because he is using a style that is seen in newspapers around the world.  The readers who pick up this book will either already be aware of this type of style for cartoons or will wish to learn about it after reading the picture book.

                This book reminds me of the Animaniacs’s song entitled “The Presidents.”  They both teach the names of past Presidents in amusing ways.  To watch the song click play on the box below:

School Curriculum: Grade 5 History: This picture book is perfect to help students memorize the many Presidents by using humor and unique facts. The notes in the back which informs about the Presidents terms and brief bios can be used as a study guide.