I heard Linda Sue Park speak at the Kansas City, KS SCBWI conference a few weeks ago. A Long Walk to Water is a great example of how great children’s literature changes lives. Beyond a moving story (about which I knew almost nothing–and I consider myself well-versed in current events), Linda Sue Park’s novel does an incredible job weaving together two separate story strands. Here’s her book trailer:
Race for the Sky: The Kitty Hawk Diaries of Johnny Moore (Simon and Schuster, 2003) is middle-grade historical fiction as it should be. Author Dan Gutman takes the facts about Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers’ first flight, and weaves them into the journal entries of Johnny Moore, a boy who lived in Nags Head at the time and actually witnessed the first flight.
Through Johnny’s journal we learn all kinds of interesting details and facts, and Race for the Sky makes you see and understand how truly remarkable the Wright Brothers’ feat was.
Here’s an excerpt from a conversation between Johnny and Wilbur Wright:
“Are you a scientist?”
“No,” he says. “I operate a bicycle shop with my brother in Dayton, Ohio.” He tells me that after the summer is over, not many folks in Ohio buy bicycles, so he’s got time to fool round with flyin’ machines and such.
As he’s talkin’ I’m thinkin’ in my head, A BICYCLE SHOP? He runs a bicycle shop, and this dingbatter thinks he’s gonna build a FLYIN’ MACHINE? . . . But I don’t say that.
“You musta gone to some fancy college, eh?” I says.
“The truth be told, I never even graduated from high school.”
Race for the Sky may be a bit slow in the first few chapters, but it quickly turns into an engrossing tale that will leave readers with a new admiration for the story behind one of humankind’s boldest achievements—the ability to fly.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” A fire fighter, an Olympic speed skater, a veterinarian, maybe president of the United States? So You Want to be President? written by Judith St. George and illustrated by David Small (Penguin) gives the real scoop about being president.
There are good things about being president: a big white mansion, a swimming pool, a bowling alley, and a movie theatre in your house. There are bad things about being president too: dressing up all the time, having people throw cabbages at you (ask William Howard Taft about that one), and nonstop homework.
“Lots of people want to be President. If you want to be President, it might help if your name is James. Six presidents were named James.” It also might help if you live in a log cabin. “People are crazy about log-cabin Presidents” (there have been eight).
This fun, non-fiction picture book shares quirky, interesting facts and quotes from past presidents. For instance, did you know that a female reporter once caught John Quincy Adams skinny-dipping in the Potomac and she “snatched his clothes and sat on them until he gave her an interview?” John Quincy Adams also said being president was “the four most miserable years of my life” (perhaps because he couldn’t skinny-dip without paparrazi on his tail).
So You Want to be President? is the perfect book for that kid who loves trivia and random facts. You know, the kid who remembers obscure details about Albus Dumbledore’s family tree and would be a natural on the TV game show Jeopardy.
David Small’s Caldecott-winning caricatures of the presidents add an extra layer of humor. Richard Nixon scowls as Warren Harding wins a presidential beauty contest and George H.W. Bush sits backstage green with envy (literally) as Ronald Reagan gets wild applause.
Originally published in 2000, So You Want to be President? was updated in 2004: three presidents were now named George instead of just two and there was another father/son presidential duo. With Barak Obama’s election, author Judith St. George will need to update the book again. This time she’ll need to make an even bigger change: deleting the words “No person of color has been President.”
So You Want to be President? gives you plenty of inside presidential buzz. Because, after all, if you want to be president when you grow up, it’s never too early to start preparing.
Guaranteed, Malia and Sasha Obama are going to be famous first daughters. But long before Malia and Sasha made the White House their home, long before Jenna and Barbara, Chelsea or Amy, was Alice Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt’s oldest daughter and perhaps the most famous and celebrated first daughter ever.
What to Do About Alice? How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic, 2008) tells the story of rambunctious Alice Roosevelt, who greeted White House guests with her pet snake, joined an all boys club, zoomed around Washington D.C. in her roadster, and danced all night at parties. Her father Teddy “called it ‘running riot.’ Alice called it, ‘Eating up the world.’”
“I can be president of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do BOTH!” said President Roosevelt. Although her mother died when Alice was two and Alice wore leg braces for many years as a child, Alice possessed just as much “bully” as her bold and adventurous father. Her “zest for fun” made her a 1900′s celebrity and irresistible material for gossip columns. Nicknamed “Princess Alice,” Alice had babies named after her, songs written about her, and famous shenanigans that boosted her father’s popularity.
Spunky kids everywhere (and kids who wish they were) will love reading What to Do About Alice? The book offers an adventurous romp into the life of the spunky first daughter who was so famous she was called “the other Washington Monument.”
