Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
If I ran for President
Illustrator: Lynne Avril
Picture Book
For ages 6 to 9
Albert Whitman & Company, 2007 ISBN: 978-0807535431
Even though you might not be able to legally run for president yet because you are too young, you can certainly imagine what it might be like to do so. After all, one day you might really be running for president so it wouldn't hurt to think about it would it? So let's do a little imagining.
First off you will have to be sure that this is something you really wanted to do. And something that your friends and family will be willing to help you with too. Remember, you will be needing them in the months to come because running for the presidency takes a lot of work and you are going to need all the support you can get.
Next you will declare your candidacy. Now everyone will know what you intend to do and you can kick off your campaign. For your campaign you will need to raise money, arrange for advertising, and much more.
Then you will need to go out and try to earn the votes of the people who are voting in caucuses and primaries. This will be a lot of work and will have to talk to a lot of people and shake a lot of hands.
The party convention follows and when it comes to an end, you will know if you have won your party's vote to be their presidential candidate. Hold onto your hat for you are now in the home stretch and the big battle awaits you.
Children often find the whole election process mystifying, and no wonder, for it is complicated. In this book the author explains the whole procedure in an interesting and easy to understand way. Children will be able to follow the different stages that take place in the months leading up to the election, and for a change they will know what is happening. Because the terminology has been explained to them, it will no longer sound so foreign and confusing. Best of all they will see that they, once they are able to vote, will be a part of the process and if they so choose they can be even more involved by running for office themselves.
This is a truly excellent title which librarians, teachers, and parents will find very helpful when they want to explain "how we vote for our president" to their children.
