Fuse 8 n’ Kate: So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George, ill. David Small
Happy (checks watch) almost President’s Day!
We just had a blast last week with our Valentine’s Day picture book Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, so where next to go? Clearly, this would be the best time to turn our sights upon the upcoming President’s Day. So what better book, I ask of you, could we do than Caldecott Award winner So You Want to Be President? Penned by Judith St. George (who was doing non-fiction for kids in the 70s when it was a particularly uncommon job) and illustrated by my beloved David Small (of Long Road to the Circus fame), we determine what has aged well with this book and what is glaringly missing (no mention of how many presidents owned slaves?!?). We also speculate about the fact that it won a Caldecott Award the same year as 9/11, but months in advance and how it sort of prefaced a whole wave of nationalism that would occur later.
Listen to the whole show here on Soundcloud or download it through iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, PlayerFM, or your preferred method of podcast selection.
Show Notes:
For quite some time, Kate has asked me to find a classic picture book in which a mohawk is prominent. And, generally speaking, I was strikingout. Then my son saw this cover and was like, “Oh! You found a mohawk book to do with Kate!” He was looking at Mr. Lincoln here. And y’know? I’m with him on this one.
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Lincoln’s just told a totally inappropriate joke. Two folks are laughing. George doesn’t get it.
Jefferson is such a complicated figure. As I told Kate, I haven’t seen a Jefferson-centric picture book in a year or two here. And when they do come out, they aren’t promoted much by the publishers.
And the nomination for the section that may have aged the most poorly post the age of Trump…
Betsy Recommends: This really nutty picture which comes with an equally nutty story (which you’ll have to hear on the podcast).
Kate Recommends: Game of Thrones
Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Kirkus, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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Okay, I’ll be the one to say it.
I came here to see a hairy Italian man and I am so disappointed! 😉
Copyright problems or just a change of heart?
Oh, my goodness, gracious me. See, this is what comes when civilization comes close to collapse. I can’t believe I failed to include him in the post. Amended! AMENDED! Enjoy his hairy little shoulders.
On a totally unrelated-to-strange-photos note: I would also love to see in a revision which presidents were anti-slavery (such as John Adams) to get a fuller picture of what was going on at the time, and to show that it wasn’t just “everyone was doing it.”