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.

Save the Best for Last- A Presidential Reading Challenge

My Goal- To read one biography and /memoirs of each American President.  A “grown up “book not a children’s bio. That would take me a week.  

 So far this year I've read 141 books for my Goodreads challenge. It included mostly adult and YA novels, as well as graphic novels. I didn’t include picture books or short chapter books because then again I would have completed my challenge too soon.  I also didn’t count the mad skimming/reading of several dozen pregnancy/breastfeeding/child care books I devoured last year in preparation for the birth of my daughter. Even with my busy schedule, I always find time for books.

But why the Presidents? Why would I want to read about a bunch of (mostly) dead white men when there are realms of fiction and fantasy to explore?

Well...I’ve never found an exact reason. I love history which plays a part. But I guess it all started way back in college. I had an acquaintance who prided herself in knowing all sorts of bizarre facts about the presidents. She would challenge anyone to name any president and she would spout out a factoid. I had a pretty similar thought “Who in their right mind studied the presidents?” I will state that we were both theater major and American History was nowhere on our required course studies. Also the person in question was bluntly; a hippie. When she wasn’t talking about dead presidents she was foaming at the mouth about her displeasure at the current commander in chief at the time: George W. Bush.

Later a year after college working in my first theater job, somehow I was challenge to learn the names of the presidents in order. Which I did, studying over the course of an evening between set changes and reciting the list the next day with great success. Soon this became my “parlor trick”. Reciting the list while doing chores and even correctly stating it after 8 drinks in one very foolish Cinco de Mayo. 

But really, what is so special about learning 44 names in order?  We can recite lyrics to our favorite songs, and even sometimes entire movies and musicals, but we can’t be bothered to learn the names of our former leaders. Right now there are hot-headed true-blooded “’Mericans’” who couldn’t name ten presidents much less all of them.

And what of those presidents? Besides the big names –Washington, Lincoln , Roosevelt- can the majority of our citizens even recall the historical contributions of our presidents. I’ve known college bound teenage patrons, bright kids, who couldn’t tell me who was president during the major wars in our history. I’m talking The Revolution and the Civil War, much less who in command during the War of 1812 or the Spanish American War.  I challenged some of our teen age volunteers to list as many presidents as they could in two minutes as a way to keep them busy at the desk. I think the most they got was 6…and they didn’t even include the current president.