Elizabeth+Ashe+US+Presidents

Bibliography: United States Presidents Elizabeth Ashe ASU Spring 2015

Children’s Non Fiction Appelt, Kathi. 2005. Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers. 37 pages. Tempe Public Library.

This is the story of Claudia Alta Taylor, forever known as Lady Bird Johnson. This book describes her life, starting in Texas and eventually finding herself in the White House as First Lady. She spent her entire life surrounding herself with flowers, they were what made her feel happy, especially bluebonnets because they reminded her of her mother. Lady Bird’s Aunt Effie taught her all about flowers in the spring. When she became first lady, one of her biggest impacts on the country was her project to beautify America’s highways. This initiative sought to remove trash and signs from the sides of highways and replace it with native wildflowers so that everyone could enjoy them the way that she did.

This book has a great connection to science, studying flowers, plants, the environment and its effect on people. Because of Lady Bird’s Highway Beautification Act, this is also a connection to talking about travel, roads, and maps.

Chandra, Deborah. 2003. George Washington’s Teeth. 40 pages. Tempe Public Library.

This book tells the story of George Washington and his famous teeth. Throughout the book, George loses one tooth after another in a variety of ways. The book is written in rhyme and flows smoothly. Watercolor illustrations comprise the majority of each page. As the story progresses, George struggles to find dental work that will stay in his mouth and in the end he does.

One of the most obvious curriculum connections using this book is math. As George’s teeth continue to fall out, students can be asked to add, subtract or just count his teeth. The book can also be connected to geography as George Washington travels to New York and crosses the Delaware.

Cooney, Barbara. 1996. Eleanor. 48 pages. Tempe Public Library.

This is the story of one of America’s favorite First Ladies, Eleanor Roosevelt. Despite living a life of luxury, she had a sad life from a young age, losing her mother and later her father. She was a solemn girl who had few friends and many fears. Despite the obstacles in her young life, when Eleanor was sent to boarding school she flourished. The headmistress of the Academy took her under her wing and showed her the world. Eleanor left the school a different person and she went on to become an advocate for the poor and underprivileged of the world.

“Every morning Eleanor and Grandma Hall…would measure out exactly what the cook would need.” This book can be used to discuss the science and math of measuring and recipes. Towards the end of the book, when Eleanor is travelling with Mlle Souvestre, the book s talks about how they spoke the local languages and ate the local food. This would be a good connection to exploring cultures and languages and different types of cuisine.

Jurmain, Suzanne Tripp. 2011. Worst of Friends. 32 pages. Tempe Public Library.

__Worst of Friends__ tells the story of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two men who started out as best friends, but became bitter rivals after they disagreed about how the country should be run. They lost touch for many years but eventually started writing each other letters to catch up on the things that they had missed in each others’ lives during the eleven year hiatus of their friendship. This book describes many of the changes taking place in the United States during the time of their presidencies.

This book could be used as early as preschool or kindergarten to talk about friendships and social skills. One of the important parts of the book says that even though they disagreed they were still polite to each other. For older students, besides the obvious history and government lessons present in the story, there are also many numbers-years and amounts.

Rappaport, Doreen. 2008. Abe’s Honest Words. 48 pages. Tempe Public Library.

This is the life story of Abraham Lincoln and his mission to end slavery. The illustrations are dramatic and vibrant and the narrative is poetic. Each page ends with quotes from Lincoln himself. The book describes how Lincoln saw things that he didn’t like in the world and the things that he did to change them. It also talks about how the obstacles he faced such as losing elections and not having the support of Americans once the war started, yet he continued to fight for what he believed in.

The book not only teaches about Abraham Lincoln’s life but also about different levels of government as well as the history of slavery and the Civil War. As Lincoln grows up his family moves around which would be another good time to discuss geography.

Rosenstock, Barb. 2013. Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library. 32 pages. Tempe Public Library.

On top of the amazing illustrations in this book is an entertaining and enriching story. It is based around Thomas Jefferson and his love of books. In his life he had multiple libraries which were destroyed and rebuilt. The story continues on each page, but there are also little side notes that give facts and quotes from Jefferson’s life. The book also has questions to encourage participation at the end of some pages such as: “Guess what he started collecting?!” The book spans Jefferson’s life from childhood to the presidency and the inception of the Library of Congress to the Library’s burning. The book ends with current information about the Library of Congress.

Much of the writing in this book is done with parallel structure which could be a connection to literacy skills. Younger students can be given the format and fill in their own thoughts, older students can create their own stories with similar structure. This is yet another book which can be connected to math curriculum because throughout the story his collection of books keeps growing which would work for making comparisons and learning about large numbers.

Stabler, David. 2014. Kid Presidents: True Tales of Childhood from America’s Presidents. 206 pages. Tempe Public Library.

This book is a collection of stories about United States presidents when they were kids. The premise behind the book is that any kid could grow up to be president because all presidents started out as “regular kids.” Some stories are a few pages and others are just a few sentences. The book is divided into sections such as “Mishaps Happen: Even Future Presidents Make Mistakes” and “Prankster in Chief: Sometimes Bad Kids grow up to be Great Presidents.” Each story is filled with fun cartoon illustrations to break up the text. At the end of the book is a section called: “44 Facts about 44 Presidents,” which lists one fact per president in order from George Washington to Barack Obama. While this book is full of historical facts, it is not written like a textbook; it is colorful and fun and small enough to fit in a child’s hands.

__Kid Presidents__ would obviously be a great addition to any lesson on the presidents, but it can also be used for building vocabulary, because even though this book is written in a fun and light-hearted fashion, there are many opportunities for teaching students new words and phrases. Since it is broken up into mini stories, this book would be great to read a little bit each day. It is humorous enough to keep the students entertained, but has enough information to teach many lessons. Another example is geography; since the presidents all have different backgrounds, placing them on a map as they are found would be a fun way to compare their backgrounds and talk about distances-which can also mean incorporating math.

St. George, Judith. 2000. So You Want to Be President? 52 pages. Tempe Public Library.

__So You Want to Be President?__ is another lighthearted book that gives facts about the presidents. This book is presented from the standpoint of helpful facts for someone considering the job of President of the United States. The book starts out with good things and bad things about being president such as not having to eat your vegetable but always having to dress up. There are facts about how the presidents looked, what their families were like and some of the pets that have lived in the white house. One of my favorite parts of this book is the way that the author intersperses direct quotes from the presidents, all of which made me laugh.

Depending on the age group, there are many different curriculum connections that can be found in this book. For example, many of the facts shown use numbers and comparisons which would be great for early learners to practice counting, numbers, addition, and making comparisons. Another fact states that 8 log-cabin presidents were elected. This could easily lead into a lesson on houses and a class-built log cabin could be used to teach math and physics. The book also talks about how presidents come in all different shapes and sizes, comparing students heights could be another math lesson. There are also many government specific words used which could be used for language and literacy development. (There is a revised for 2012 edition which I imagine is very similar but with the addition of George Bush and Barack Obama, however it was not available at the library.)

Children’s Fiction

Fleming, Candace. 1999. A Big Cheese for the White House. 32 pages. Tempe Public Library.

This book is considered historical fiction and is based on the “mammoth” cheese that the city of Cheshire gifted to President Jefferson. The book describes how the entire town came together to make a cheese large enough to make the president take notice. Everyone gave the milk from their cows and the apple press was used to press the curds, and then placed in a specially made hoop. The cheese then travelled to the White House and made it just in time for the New Year’s party.

This book can be used for many different math and science connections including comparing sizes, measuring, and weighing. This is also another good book to use to talk about roads and travelling since the cheese goes on a journey from Massachusetts always to the White House.

Smith, Lane. 2008. Madam President. 40 pages. Tempe Public Library.

__Madam President__ is a fictional story about a young girl who imagines herself as president. She goes throughout her days and describes the kind of things that a president does, with a twist. The illustrations are the highlight of this book as they provide many fun details to add to the story. Each page is fun and filled with new things to see through every reading.

This book uses many words that can be used to build vocabulary and encourage children to make predictions. There is a song that can be explored and used for music and movement connections. This book would be a great introduction to a study of presidents because it is light-hearted and silly but also talks about actual presidential duties and responsibilities which could be explored in more depth.