Mommy3S's Full Review: Kathleen Krull - Lives of the Presidents: Fame, Sh...
"Lives of the Presidents: Fame, Shame (and What the Neighbors Thought)" is a lighthearted look at the presidency. Each president is named and each president is shamed, even if only a little bit. This is definitely a book that should be read by the presidents who thought they were superior to the human race.
Each President is named in this book, some occupying more page space than others. Under each President's name is their birth and death information along with one well known achievement, then begins the fun. I will only slightly touch on the fun stuff so that I will not waste your money or ruin your chances of buying the book.
Did you know that there was a President...:
1. Whose wife would pull him down to face level by the lapels when she wanted to talk to him?
2. And one whose wife struck him on the nose to get him to look at her?
3. Who had such a soft voice that he was often thought to mumble during speeches because he couldn't raise it?
4. Who was teased to being "no bigger than a piece of soap?"
5. Who lived with 2 bullets inside of him?
6. Who was so paranoid that he thought he was cursed by being short and that his unpopularity was a plot?
7. Who had to always be "it" during tag?
8. Who was nicknamed "Sleeping Beauty" because, just as the nickname implies, he slept thru everything, including a typhoon?
9. Whose wife watched "As the World Turns" without fail?
10. Who always found the comics first in the daily paper?
Those are just a few of the tidbit that you can find. There are so many more, some more serious and several more comical.
Kathleen Krull did a magnificant job on sharing small details of these men's lives. In the introduction to the book she states that while many Americans view the President as someone larger than life, someone who is flawless and has devoted all of his life to becoming President, each had a funny side to them. Kathleen Krull did not set out to write a book about their "political achievements and public opinion ratings," instead she decided to write about their real lives, "as fathers, husbands, pet owners and neighbors."
The book was also very wonderfully illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt. Each president is drawn in this book, along with many of the First Ladies and a few pets, and the cover makes living in the White House fun. She did a wonderful job of capturing what each President was "all about."
I wouldn't use this as a primary way to teach children about U.S. Presidential History, but it will help in making it more enjoyable. My 9 year old son, whom I originally bought this book for, loves it. He has read it so many times, he knows more about each president than I ever did. It is fun to listen to him retell what he has learned and exciting to me, as a homeschooler, that he enjoys it.
The President of the United States has always been in the public eye - but do we know these men as well as we think we do? What were they like as fath...More at Christianbook.com
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