Happy President’s Day!
Happy President’s Day! I thought I’d rerun a couple of president related books today. I’m going to spend as much of today as I can huddled under my electric blanket reading since it’s a whole ONE degree outside! Brrrr…
Dream Big Dreams: Photographs from Barack Obama’s Inspiring and Historic Presidency by Pete Souza
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: November 21, 2017
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
From former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza comes a book for young readers that highlights Barack Obama’s historic presidency and the qualities and actions that make him so beloved.
Pete Souza served as Chief Official White House Photographer for President Obama’s full two terms. He was with the President during more crucial moments than anyone else – and he photographed them all, capturing scenes both classified and candid.
Throughout his historic presidency, Obama engaged with young people as often as he could, encouraging them to be their best and do their best and to always “dream big dreams.” In this timeless and timely keepsake volume that features over seventy-five full-color photographs, Souza shows the qualities of President Obama that make him both a great leader and an extraordinary man. With behind-the-scenes anecdotes of some iconic photos alongside photos with his family, colleagues, and other world leaders, Souza tells the story of a president who made history and still made time to engage with even the youngest citizens of the country he served.
By the author of Obama: An Intimate Portrait, the definitive visual biography of Barack Obama’s presidency, Dream Big Dreams was created especially for young readers and not only provides a beautiful portrait of a president but shows the true spirit of the man.
Dream Big Dreams is the children’s version Pete Souza’s book Obama: An Intimate Portrait. It includes some photos that are not in that book. Souza was the official White House photographer for all eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency. In this book, he includes photos of Obama interacting with children and other happy photos. There are a few sad photos, like Obama comforting the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook. However, these types of photos are meant to show Obama’s compassion and the captions do not go into great detail about the events. I don’t think it will be too much for most kids to handle.
I have loved looking at Souza’s photographs of Obama on Facebook over the years. He is a truly gifted photographer. Check out his Instagram page. He has been posting photos of Barack Obama that relate to events involving our current president. For instance, he posted a photo the other day with a picture of Obama with his hand over his heart and the caption, “Yes, he knew the words.” You know what he was referring to, I’m sure!
Dream Big Dreams is a nice, quality hardback coffee table book. It would make a great gift for any child interested in a photographic history of our 44th president’s compassion, sense of humor and accomplishments.
(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)
TIME for Kids Presidents of the United States by Editors of TIME for Kids Magazine
Publisher: Time for Kids
Released in 2017
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Time for Kids: Presidents of the United States is a brief look at all forty-five presidents of the United States of America. Each president gets a one or two page spread, depending on how major their presidency was, e.g. Jefferson and Lincoln each get two pages. We learn the birth and death date, wife and children’s names and a few tidbits of notable information about each one. There is also a time-line for events going on in technology or popular culture during that president’s time in office. The book does include information about our current president; however, it was written before the inauguration so there is no information about what his “accomplishments” are to date. The writers are probably thanking their lucky stars that they don’t have to try to write that up in an unbiased voice! It does say that during the campaign, “He made controversial remarks about several groups of people,” which I think is fair to say.
Speaking of bias, I think overall, the authors did a good job of presenting the information objectively or making sure they included the opinions on both sides of the issue, i.e. some people thought this, others thought that.
Also included in this book is a flow chart of what it takes to run for president and an explanation of the three branches of government. There is also some information on the more active first ladies.
I think this is a great book for middle-grade readers to get some concise information on each president. It’s very age-appropriate too. For instance, it says that Bill Clinton “faced charges of illegal behavior.” (That made me laugh.) I learned quite a bit from this book too, not being a big history buff myself. This book would be a great addition to a middle-graders library.
(I received a complementary copy of this book for review.)
