Madam President, written and illustrated by Lane Smith (Hyperion Books for Children New York. 2008) is a fictional day in the life of a young girl pretending to be the President of the United States. It is fun and humorous book. Katy spends the day kissing babies, vetoing, giving a press conference, and spreading peace and diplomacy everywhere she goes. She leaves people holding mini American flags after she solves their problem. During her press conference, she says, "That's top secret. No comment. I'll get back to you on that. I won't dignify that with an answer." She goes on and on. It is funny because sometimes it seems like our leaders do say those types of things over and over. Katy goes home and has to deal with a disaster: her room. She cleans her room because she must lead by example.The illustrations add a lot to the book. The fact that everyone has a tiny flag after she leaves is super funny. After she kisses the baby, the surprised and possibly a little confused baby looks out from the stroller with a flag.
One of the pages has large words about how the President is, "the most important person in the whole world!" Then in small writing at the bottom, it states, "And the most humble."
Children grades K to 3 would enjoy this book. The readability lexile is ages 4 to 8. In the book, Katy names some of her cabinet members. She names her piggy bank the Secretary of the Treasury and her potato head the Secretary of Agriculture. A logical mini-lesson to follow this book would be to discuss our political system. The concept of a veto could be introduced. We could discuss the branches of government and then create some of our own cabinet members like Katy does.
This book is fun and clever. I like that the character is a young girl and that she is so bright and full of energy.
I love books with a strong female character! This book let's the reader see a young girl role-playing a job that has been traditionally a man's job. Katy seems to have a grasp on what a president must do, as eveidenced by her cleaning her room to lead by example. A definite "must have" book for an early elementary school classroom!
ReplyDeleteKathleen Brockway
This is a positive book for young girls and I think shows the opening of gender equality.
ReplyDeleteAs a man, I couldn't help but think if a book could be made with a female-centric job and a man aspiring to have the position (basically the gender roles of the above book reversed).
Yay for the power of women. I think that there is underappreciated women throughoutt he world and it is key to show positive rolemodels throughout any age of life.
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