Presidental Poetry

In this post I present you not with one, but two books featuring poems about US Presidents. This strikes me as such a specific topic that I'm surprised there are two books on the subject (and perhaps more.)

However I work in public library where almost anything goes. I was asked last May by several students in a desperation to finish up their poetry assignments if I could help them find a poem about Constitution  Day.  ._.
I couldn't really believe this was an actual assignment until I was presented with the evidence. 3rd and 4th grade students presented with the task of finding and copying a poem about several holidays during the year including MLK Day, Arbor Day, and Constitution Day (which I didn't even know was a holiday) Needless to say despite finding books on holiday poem and America poems, I did not find one about Constitution Day so I suggested the just write the Preamble. (It's poetic, I guess. Close enough)

So if anyone needs a poem about presidents, I'm prepared!

The President is Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems about the Presidents By Susan Katz with illustrations by Robert Neubecker

Rutherford B. Who was He? Poems about out Presidents by Marilyn Singer with illustrations by John
  Hendrix

Each book follows the same format. A poem about (almost) each President along with factual information about their life or administration. All of Singer's poems rhyme, while some of Katz's rhyme and follow the same pattern, other forms are used. Katz also devote a poem to every president while Singer combines lesser known Presidents into one poem. Surprisingly she combines Adams and Jefferson into one short poem.

Katz's poems present the lighter side of the presidents while Singer's are much more informational. Some of them present the reader with some serious heavy thoughts after reading them, partically the spread about JFK and LBJ.

For example.

Singer's poem about  Lydon Johnson lay out his many accomplishments "Great Society. War on Poverty. Clean Air. Medicare..." but point out that this legacy was undone by the war in Vietnam.

In the next poem, about Nixon, a similar point is made. "Who protected the environment? Who opened the gateway to China? Would people remember Watergate, nothing but Watergate?"

Some of the stories and anecdotes are already familiar to me and some of them repeat. (William Henry Harrison's claim to fame is his short term and poor Taft gets stuck in the bath again) But I did learn some new things. In summary, I preferred Singer's poetry over Katz and her book had much more information in it. While I also love the work of both illustrators,  John Hendrix's illustrations are so well done, full of detail and featuring hand drawn text. It makes the book beautiful and eye catching to compliment the poems.

Presidental Anecdote for Kids

Continuing my love and quest of all presidential trivia great and small, I'll be looking at two new books today about Presidential anecdotes published for kids.

President Taft is Stuck in the Bath 

Did President William Howard Taft, our heaviest President, get stuck in the White House bathtub? Some say yes, others deny it. If you told a kid that the president was stuck in the bath and asked him how he would get out, they might have the same wacky ideas that are presented in this book.

President Taft decided to call in the vice president and all his cabinet members for solutions of how to get unstuck from his small bath. They range from useless to absurd including greasing the tub with fresh butter and blasting him out with TNT.

I read this book out loud with my family and it gave my husband a really good laugh.There were some things that poked fun of the absurdity of the government and the idea of calling a committee to assist with getting someone out of the bath. Things that would be completely missed by younger readers but appreciated by adults. My favorite was the Sectary of the Treasury suggestion "Throw money at the problem"

However while we were enjoying this book, we did have to admit, it was a bit of "mean fun". We were laughing at a very large naked man stuck in the bathtub. In a kid's book its hilarious. In real life, it would be embarrassing. The illustrations by Chris Van Dusen are amazing and he is presented with a challenge of rendering a naked 300 pound plus man. People who are squeamish about the naked body or can't read through a potty or bath-time picture book without feeling weird would want to skip this. I found my mind straying towards the gutter while trying to admire the illustrations and not be distracted on what was lurking underneath those cleverly placed bubbles.

My one pet peeve about this books was how often the word "said" was used. It probably because I was reading it out loud and getting tired of saying it. I feel if you are introducing this book to kids who at least have an idea of what a president is and an appreciation for the subject, you might wanted to include some more verbs for the sake of introducing more vocabulary.

Hot Dog! Eleanor Roosevelt Throws a Picnic

The year is 1939. To celebrate the arrival of the first British Royals to visit America in over 150 years, The Roosevelts decided to host a picnic. And what's a picnic without hot dogs!

We are introduced to our title characters, both Eleanor Rossevelt and hot dogs in the first page, but they seem to go in and out of focus throughout the book as the reader is clued into the history and back story of this event. The focus on this book is how serving hot dogs to the King and Queen of England would be odd and almost offensive.

However, hot dogs are a staple in the diet for kids and so common that I don't think anyone would bat an eye if President Obama or Prince William chowed down on them.  "What's the big deal?" is the question I'm sure kids would have while reading this, and I don't think the book makes this point very clear. It would take further explanation outside of reading to help kids understand the point of view for that time period.  Also would the idea of a hot dog be so foreign to Brits at that time? It's a sausage or a "banger" if we are using slang.  According to the story, King George chowed down on two of them, while Queen Elizabeth cut hers into pieces. (which isn't that strange because she would have done the same with a sausage, am I right?)

Besides just relying a story, I'm not sure what the point was of this book. I'm not sure if the American viewpoint in 1939 was to regard the English as so different from us just because they have a monarchy. Or was it because we hadn't had a visit from the royal family in so long that we still regarded Great Britain as our enemies from the Revolution? The "moral" of this story is that Roosevelt's hospitality enabled them to develop a good relationship with the royal couple and ensured a strong bond as we became close allies during World War II (which puzzles me since we were allies with them before in World War I)

I think this book would be good in the classroom to help aid the study of this time period, but as a stand-alone book, it falls flat.