TIME For Kids presents a complete overview of our nation’s chief executives from George Washington to the newly elected 45th president!Did you know that James Monroe was the first president to appear without a wig in public? Or that George W. Bush appointed the first African-American secretary of state? Presidents of the United States invites the reader inside the White House to discover fascinating facts about the U.S. commanders-in-chief-their origins, accomplishments, and place in history-as told through famous quotes, important historical dates, and a timeline of events. Special sections cover the election process, the branches of government, and the role of presidents in the expansion of our nation from before the 13 colonies through westward expansion. With more than 200 photographs, illustrations, portrait reproductions, and maps – Goodreads
Presidents of the United States Review
Honestly, I think the first few pages of TIME for Kids: Presidents of the United States need to be distributed out to adults. Especially with the elections coming up. They contain a nice, easy to understand, refresher course on the Checks and Balances and the three branches of our government. There’s a few pages on each individual president. Each one contains a general story about their life and presidency. The information is laid out in a straightforward fashion with no embellishments.
On the left side of the pages you find quick reference information on them. This information is simple: Birth, Death, Political Party, Vice President, Wife, and Children.Even that can contain some interesting information! For example: We get bombarded with Democratic and Republican propaganda so much that it’s easy to forget that they weren’t always the all-powerful that they are now. Our first President was a member of the Federalist Party! Beyond that, how many of you remember that the Democrats and Republicans were originally one party? The Democrat-Republicans. Or that John Adams actually signed a bill to limit their power. (Wise man, that.) The right pages sometimes contain “Did You Know?” interesting tidbits.
The authors also helpfully include “Key Dates” with each presidency. These give readers a sense of other important events to ground the times certain presidents served in. There’s also a few key quotes from the presidents listed to. This one is particularly apt, given who the wee orange one who is the president-elect is.
“Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like Office Seeking.” Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th POTUS
Its simply written, yet it’s engrossing. There were lots of things I either did not know, or knew and had since forgotten. The best type of history book is the one that makes things interesting, and Time succeeds with this book. It contains everything from the layout of our branches of government, to past presidents and their first ladies. TIME for Kids: Presidents of the United States lets young readers know more about the figurehead position of their country. It even contains an easy to read overview of the process of becoming president.
TIME for Kids: Presidents of the United States publishes on January 10th, 2017. You can pre-order it on Amazon.
Title: TIME for Kids: Presidents of the United States | Series: TIME for Kids | Publisher: TIME for Kids | Pub. Date: 2017-1-17 | Pages: 80 | ISBN13: 9781618934277 | Genre: Children’s Educational Non-fiction | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 4 out of 5 | Date Read: 2016-9-30 | Source: Received a copy from the publisher free in exchange for an honest review.
One had to watch out a bit with these summary/tidbit type of history books. I had an unillustrated version of this type of book in my junior high years. The norm of Presidents being Christian was so accepted back then that it labelled all the Presidents on an equal basis as belonging to SOME mainstream Christian denomination or other, even when that meant glossing over certain murky issues.
Is there a simple one that you would recommend?
and by the way, do you have any articles on your site about cyborgs? I may be an idiot, but I couldn’t find a search bar to search your previous posts.
Can’t say I’ve read many of them in recent years, so no recommendation. Just remember to use books like those as first steps, not last ones. (OK, obvious point.)
No cyborg articles, sorry.
There’s a search bar at the top of the right-hand column in Sillyverse, but none at all in Sillyhistory. I need to change the format of the latter to fix that, as I want to reuse some posts there while teaching classes.