So You Want to be President?

So You Want to be President?

Written by Judith St. George

Illustrated by David Small

Scholastic Inc., 2000

47 Pages

Nonfiction (Informational)

          Did you know that Ronald Reagan was an actor, or that Andrew Jackson and Herbert Hoover were orphans? These are just two facts among many that I learned in the book, So You Want to be President?  This book is full of facts about the presidents, what it takes to be in office, their duties, and funny tales of the presidency. This book is full of funny and interesting quotes from our presidents. President Lincoln was once told he was two-faced, his response was, “If I am two-faced, why would I wear the face that I have now?” This book is a great tool to engage upper grade students to want to read about the presidents of the United States. The illustrations are funny and the author’s style of writing is very kid friendly.       

          Small creates his illustrations by using ink, watercolor, pastel chalk and lots of humor! His illustrations have you laughing from the time you begin reading until you end reading. The illustrations are double page and feature mainly informal text placement. Small uses color to convey the mood of the president on each page. Some pages feature bright, vibrant colors whereas others have dark colors with little bright color on the page. The use of jagged lines is also prominent in the illustrations. His illustrations show the unique personalities of each president. 

          Older students could read this book independently and write about what they would change or do if they were the president of the United States or they could right about their favorite president and explain why. You could use this book for a read aloud with second and third graders as an introduction to discussing the presidency.