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michelle_neuwirth_gray9311's review against another edition
4.0
I learned some interesting tidbits that I didn't know about the different presidents and the illustrations were really funny.
2001 Winner
2001 Winner
david_reads_books's review against another edition
5.0
2001 Caldecott
Updated to 2012 to include Obama (and thankfully he who will not be mentioned)
What a great book! Sketches of all our famous presidents, and loaded with interesting facts.
Most popular first names? (James is first)
Born in a log cabin? 8
Tallest (Abe), shortest (Madison), biggest (Taft)
Youngest, oldest, max siblings, relatives as president, thrifty, and not so thrifty, pets, musicians, sports, hobbies, jobs, education, war heroes, previous as VP, religion, attitude about being prez.
All presented in a VERY readable and enjoyable format.
(Weird I see this book available in audio format? Why? Caldecott means you MUST read the hardback!)
Updated to 2012 to include Obama (and thankfully he who will not be mentioned)
What a great book! Sketches of all our famous presidents, and loaded with interesting facts.
Most popular first names? (James is first)
Born in a log cabin? 8
Tallest (Abe), shortest (Madison), biggest (Taft)
Youngest, oldest, max siblings, relatives as president, thrifty, and not so thrifty, pets, musicians, sports, hobbies, jobs, education, war heroes, previous as VP, religion, attitude about being prez.
All presented in a VERY readable and enjoyable format.
(Weird I see this book available in audio format? Why? Caldecott means you MUST read the hardback!)
aceartemis7's review against another edition
1.0
It's been a while since I've read this book. Seems like I didnt like it when I read it. Can't remember what the book was about though. Guess it didn't make an impression on me.
clwolters's review against another edition
4.0
So You Want to be President has both funny and informational facts that teach children about the lives of our nation’s presidents. The illustrations are done in the style of a caricature, making our presidents seem larger than life. Readers will be left with a plethora of entertaining, presidential trivia.
carolsnotebook's review against another edition
5.0
This was a fun, entertaining book. I learned so much trivia about the presidents. Of course, I'll probably forget it all. And it really emphasizes that anyone can become president. One of my favorite parts was the little one sentence summary of each president's term in the back of the book.
calistareads's review against another edition
4.0
Presidents, presidents everywhere. This book is full of fun and interesting facts about the presidents of the US; the good, the bad and the bizarre. Each president here is mentioned at least once for something. Most of them have similar names or lived in log cabins - 9. There have been 6 presidents with the name James, 1 went by Jimmy. We learn the tallest, the shortest and the biggest president. Very little judgement is made, but it does talk about Clinton and Nixon telling lies. This was updated in 2012 so Obama is included in the mix here.
I thought this was a fun little facts filled nonfiction book for anyone interested in learning about the presidents of our country. It’s obvious some were much better than others. I have started watching Untold history on Netflix and its a great show about modern presidents and I have been learning so much, so this book is interesting right now. I do hope someday soon we can add a woman to this list. It's much needed now.
The niece loved this book. She loves little facts about things. She gave this 4 stars. The nephew thought some things were funny. He thought Taft being lowered into the bathtub by a crane was funny and some other things, but mostly he wasn’t too interested. He gave this 2 stars.
libraryalexa's review against another edition
Read 5/7/2015
Cute illustrations, lots of facts about the presidents
Cute illustrations, lots of facts about the presidents
raoionna's review against another edition
3.0
Political cartoon style illustrations and wordy text share stories of the presidents and an hopeful description of the role of the presidents
just_fighting_censorship's review against another edition
2.0
I did not like the organization and execution of this book. I do not find this to be a child friendly read since several sentences are lists of President names and a lot information is thrown at the reader. The artwork does not aid the story in anyway, I think that the washed out political cartoon style is unattractive and a poor choice for a children's picture book.
Also, I felt there was an obvious bias which really showed through in the artwork. The characterization of the Bushes and Nixon for example was much harsher than any other presidents. For example, the author is talking about the various related presidents all of which are gathered in a tree, in the background popping out of a bush looking somewhat inbred are the Bushes, really? Also on a page in which the only president mentioned by name is H.W. Bush the chosen illustration was of Nixon bowling. I just find it annoying to politicize a children's picture book.
Also, I felt there was an obvious bias which really showed through in the artwork. The characterization of the Bushes and Nixon for example was much harsher than any other presidents. For example, the author is talking about the various related presidents all of which are gathered in a tree, in the background popping out of a bush looking somewhat inbred are the Bushes, really? Also on a page in which the only president mentioned by name is H.W. Bush the chosen illustration was of Nixon bowling. I just find it annoying to politicize a children's picture book.