So You Want to Be President? By Judith St. George and David Small (Grade 4 and up)

So You Want to Be President?  By Judith St. George and David Small (Grade 4 and up)

George, J. Small, David. (200). So You Want to Be President? New York: Penguin Books.

Genre: Biographical Non Fiction

Lexile: 730

This books talks about the great things about being president and also the hard things that presidents have to do. It shows a humorous side to the past presidents and their jobs. It talks about serious issues of presidents past and also some random facts about presidents. The book shows all of the presidents at least once throughout the story and as well has a timeline and an entry of each president and their run. The book talks about some of the presidential accomplishments, early childhood life, family, pets, and some wrong decisions that they made. The wide range of life that the book covers is not biasing any one president over the other.

This book portrays language development because it used complex sentences, which encourages oral language and written activities. Students at this age have a better understanding of metaphorical writing, which is used in this book. By reading this book students are not only broadening their knowledge of presidents but also expanding their vocabulary and sentence structure capabilities. This book also helps with personality development and growth because it not only shows the presidential strengths but also their weaknesses. This shows students that they share feelings of success and failure with very powerful people in history.

Style- The style of this book is telling the individual snip-its of stories to each president as well as important historical facts. There is a very humorous side to the book, which keeps the dense history somewhat hidden, and makes for a very enjoyable read.

Illustrations- The illustrations throughout the book use bold colors and lines to portray the writing. The colors are bright and exciting setting the tone for the read.

Mini Lesson- This would be a great introduction to presidential history; it is light and leaves the dense part of history for later. It shares a lot of good information without being overwhelming.

Enjoyment: This book can be enjoyed by several ages, but developmentally it would be best for grades four and up.