Literacy Learning on Presidents Day (BOOKLIST)
Franki Sibberson
As someone who is fairly new to the role of librarian, I have been thinking about the holidays that we celebrate throughout the year and the books available to celebrate each one. I am not a big proponent of teaching anything solely because of a holiday - I worry that learning from these isolated lessons gets lost quickly for students. They may hear the same stories every year. Because President's Day is coming up, I am trying to expand the ways that I look at the books I can recommend to teachers if they choose to read something for this holiday.
When picking books for President's Day, I think about the things I want children to learn about the role of the president, and how I might build on that from year to year. This year, I've added several books to our library collection that can be used close to President's Day or any other time during the year. I don't believe that any of these books should be used in isolation. Within the context of a larger study, they might help our students create a deeper understanding of the role of the president in our country.
National Geographic's Our Country's Presidents by Ann Bausum is a terrific new book that is packed with information. It is not a small book - more like an encyclopedia. The text gives readers a few pages of information about each president, so you can use parts of it to share with students. It also puts the presidents into a historical timeline that highlights their accomplishments. Throughout the book, readers can learn other interesting things about the presidents - pages share information about the Electoral College, Presidential Landmarks, and more.
President Obama
This President's Day it might make sense for some teachers to focus on Barack Obama since his presidency is still fairly young. Because of his recent election, there are many terrific new books about President Obama. Some are more biographical in nature, while others show students the daily responsibilities of presidents.
One of my favorite new books about the Obamas is First Family by Deborah Hopkinson. This text describes the day-to-day life of the President and his family. Although it focuses on the current First Family, so many of the things explained in the book are generic to all first families - moving into the White House, the office where the president works, and the role of the First Lady. Because the Obama family is familiar to students, the examples are more vivid for them.
Although this book isn't particularly about Barack Obama or the presidency, Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change by Michelle Cook is a wonderful addition to books dealing with President's Day. This book highlights several African Americans who have made a difference in our country and the world, and how each person's struggle helped someone else.
A picture book biography that begins with Barack Obama's childhood is Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes. This text takes us through many stages of Obama's life and parts of the journey that led him to become the President of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln
Because our country recently celebrated Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, many new children's books were published about him. Some have added new perspectives to the conversations around Abraham Lincoln and his influence.
If you know the other books in Doreen Rappaport's "words" series, you will want to pick up Abe's Honest Words . This text chronicles much of Lincoln's life, highlighting his own words throughout his story.
Often the books that we read about presidents focus solely on the person. In Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship , Nikki Giovanni considers the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, and the way they worked toward a common goal that changed history. I think this is a powerful story to show children that any president does not work on his own. Working with others is essential in a democracy.
Abraham Lincoln Comes Home by Robert Burleigh is the tale of a boy who pays his respects to President Lincoln after he is killed in 1865. After Lincoln died, his body was taken by train to Springfield where he was to be buried. Along the way, many Americans gathered to pay their respects. This story is told through the eyes of a child, capturing the pain that the nation felt at this time in history.
Our Abe Lincoln adapted by Jim Aylesworth is a fun new biography about Abraham Lincoln based on a song about him. In the book, children at a school are performing a play about Abraham Lincoln, and each page focuses on one "scene" or part of Lincoln's life.
First Family Members
One of the most important things we can teach children about presidents is that they are United States citizens, and any one of us can become president. By sharing stories that are less about the presidential position and more about the daily life and the families of the presidents, we may build student aspirations.
Mind Your Manners, Alice Roosevelt! by Leslie Kimmelman tells about the childhood of Teddy Roosevelt's oldest daughter, Alice. Alice was a handful and hard to control. She had her own ideas about how women should behave. This is a fun story and written in a way that will engage children. Technically this book is fiction, but it is based on facts and true events.
In the spring of 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt went on a four-day camping trip in Yosemite. He was accompanied by the naturalist John Muir. Camping With the President by Ginger Wadsworth shows a side of a president that we don't always hear about. His passion and interest influenced the establishment of five new national parks and added many acres to the existing forest reserves. The author's note gives readers more details from the lives of Roosevelt and Muir.
The nation followed closely as the First Family chose a family pet. Two charming new picture books share the process with readers. First Dog by J. Patrick Lewis and Beth Zappitello and First Pooch: The Obamas Pick a Pet by Carol Boston Weatherford both help students see that the Obama children experience many of the same feelings that they do in picking a family pet. Readers also learn some presidential trivia along the way.
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Jennifer Allen
