A review by oldwindways
When I'm the President by Remesh Ram, Samantha Pillay

hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

When I'm the President is a story for young children about a woman president of the United States of America.  It highlights the important traits of a good leader, like listening carefully, being honest, believing in fairness and freedom, and more.  It avoids potentially controversial matters of politics, instead sticking to broad consensus topics like working to build world peace and protecting the planet.  In focusing on the traits that make a good leader it does not address questions like:

• How does one become president?
• What are the powers and responsibilities of the president?
• Why have we never had a female president in the USA?

Like the other book in this series we have read (When I'm an Astronaut), it is composed of pages with colorful and personable illustrations and a single sentence, making it easy for beginning readers to tackle.
I read the story aloud with my daughter (8.5) and son (6) who both enjoyed it.

He gave it 3 out of 5 stars and said:

• I liked the page with all the flags (in front of the UN building).
• I also liked the page with the Lincoln Memorial.
• I liked the page with people in the shape of America.

She gave it 5 out of 5 stars and had this to say about it:

• It made me wonder if it was talking about just presidents or specifically a girl president.
• I think when it says she would keep people safe, the picture isn't the best example of people being safe.
• I really liked the cute deer by Mount Rushmore.
• It made me wonder if there will ever be a girl president.  
• It also made me wonder what it is like to be the president.  Sure it may sound fun to be super in charge, but it is a lot of work too.

There was also a link to some free coloring pages based on illustrations from the book.  The 8-year-old was particularly excited about the included word search.