A First Look at America's Presidents

Notable for their respectful, fair-minded tone, this series emphasizes four 20th century presidents’ virtues and how each impacted the United States. Texts provide broad overviews of the presidents’ childhoods, early years, and terms in office—helping students discover these leaders’ very human sides. The books have strong visual appeal: high-quality photos depict subjects’ lives, careers, and concurrent historical events; type is set against colored backgrounds; and sidebars resemble campaign buttons. Standard nonfiction features—table of contents, brief index, glossary with pronunciation guides, bibliography with a link to the publisher’s site—acquaint youngest students with the tools they need to locate information. Also in each volume: a “Facts and Quotes” page highlighted by a statue or bust of the president. VERDICT A well-done introduction to presidents for early graders; highly recommended.

K-3. First Look at America’s Presidents series. Each highly abbreviated biography of a US president uses a variety of visual and textual elements arranged informally on pages designed to look like cork bulletin boards. The brief, uninspired narratives are supported by photographs on period illustrations with captions and short sidebars in campaign-button graphics. Two famous quotes are appended. Reading list, timeline. Glos., ind.

This brief biography condenses the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt into 24 pages of facts and full-color photos. The first double-page spread summarizes the “tough times” America experienced while FDR was president. From there, each successive two-page topic takes readers from his childhood in Hyde Park,
through highlights of his political career, to his death and remembrance. The text is very simple with four to six short sentences comprising each chapter. Unfamiliar words appear in bold and are defined in a glossary. Chapters contain one page of text with a captioned photo and a second page of illustration—often designed as a corkboard where additional photos and facts are “tacked.” Back matter includes a time line of Roosevelt’s life, a “Facts and Quotes” page, a brief glossary, an index, and a list of resources. This title joins seven other books about presidents in the A First Look at America’s Presidents series. For young children, this would serve as a resource for first reports.

Reminiscent of Scholastic’s “True Books,” these titles are ideal introductions to the most studied presidents. Each spread features an apt illustration with a few sentences about the subject, while the opposite page is designed to look like a bulletin board, with full-color maps, paintings, and drawings “attached” with pushpins. Despite the brevity, the sentences are informative, with not a word wasted. VERDICT: Though these are sanitized biographies, they’re suitable for the audience.