Caldecott Medal Winner # 4 / So You Want to Be President?

So You Want to Be President? is a delightful, fun-filled reading experience for children that is supplemented with hilariously accurate drawings and images of the presidents from both the past and present. Judith St. George gives us a wonderful fact book of the presidents, ranging from telling her readers various physical characteristics of the presidents to sharing what presidents liked to eat, what presidents liked to do as their hobbies, and what presidents enjoyed the company of an animal as a pet during their tenure in the White House. David Small, the illustator of this fact collection, does a splendid job of capturing the essence of each and every president in brilliant caricature style.

The book does a nice job of sharing its purpose with its title. Asking its readers "So you want to be president?" showcases an opportunity to share the numerous facts about the presidents with the aspiring-to-be-president readers. Even the front illustration captures the overall purpose of the book, showing a caricatured Mt. Rushmore. I will admit, however, that the book got a little tiresome with the countless facts; I understand that there must be an inclusion about every president, but several presidents "show up" numerous times in the book, leaving this reader a little exhausted with presidential knowledge. However, I will be the first to say that I have never been a true fan of American history; the scandals and love affairs of European history has always attracted me more.

Interestingly, I had my stack of children's literature books that I had just checked out of the local Louisville Public Library in my high school classroom, and one of my students asked what they were for. I was explaining my graduate school class and its purpose while, at the same time, describing the books I had chosen to read. I offered my students a loose description of each one, only mentioning that one was "about presidents," and immediately, one of my high school juniors asked, "Is it So You Want to Be President? I loved that book!" I told him it was, in fact, that book, and he came bounding out of his seat to re-live his elementary school level favorite book. This revelation sparked an interesting discussion in my class, each student wanting to share what his or her favorite books were when they were growing up. I found the discussion delightful, and while I may not have fallen in love with So You Want to Be President?, one of my students would have taken it home with him if I would have allowed it.

Judith St. George has written a wide variety of books, but it is her non-fiction books for children that have gained her the most notoriety, including Sacagawea, To See With The Heart: The Life of Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse. David Small also won a Caldecott Honor Medal for the 1998 book The Gardener, which was written by Sarah Stewart (St. George & Small, 2000).

Nate Smith


Resource:
St. George, J., & Small, D. (2000). So you want to be president? New York: Philomel Books.