Nonfiction Book Review

Kid Presidents: True Tales of Childhood from America's Presidents
Written by David Stabler
Illustrated by Doogie Horner
Age Range: 9-12

Published 2014 by Quirk Productions Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-59474-731-1
MSRP: $13.95

“This is Kid Presidents, the book that proves any kid can grow up to be president. Because every U.S. president started out as a regular kid. Just like you.”

Thus begins Kid Presidents, an amusing addition to the vast canon of children’s books about the U.S. presidents. The cartoons on the cover suggest that this is not a normal informational text, though; as does the fact that it was published by Quirk, best known as the company that brought us Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Christopher Walken A to Z.

And, in fact, it isn’t a normal book about the presidents of the United States. Kid Presidents recounts stories of the Leaders of the Free World before they were the Leaders of the Free World. From Theodore “Teedie” Roosevelt’s homegrown natural history museum to Dick Nixon’s disastrous turn as Aeneas in the high school play, Kid Presidents entertainingly recounts instances from the presidents’ early years, and finds in many of them the traits that served the boys well in the Oval Office.

The format of Kid Presidents is ideal for kids who are used to reading about Captain Underpants and the Wimpy kid. The colorful cartoons on the cover continue throughout the book, and the writing style is casual and approachable. By presenting the presidents as normal kids who face normal kid issues, the book goes a long way in humanizing them and sparking interest in learning more about their later lives.

Kid Presidents is massively entertaining, and a great choice for either parent or child to read out loud before bed. The chapters are short, and readers can skip around with no problem. The book’s biggest weakness – and it is one that only adults will likely take umbrage with – is that there are no references or footnotes, nor is there any ancillary content explaining where author David Stabler got his stories. In fact, there is nothing in Kid Presidents to suggest that any of its content is based in reality at all. As a reader one wants to accept the authenticity of the stories, but the book does not give any documentation whatsoever.

While Kid Presidents does advertise itself as a collection of “true tales” and while it is cataloged in the 973s at my library, it should definitely be used more for entertainment purposes than for research. It won’t be winning the Sibert Award any time soon. That being said, it greatly succeeds in being entertaining, and might just be the perfect vehicle to inspire its young readers to seek out further information about some of the rapscallions presented in its pages.

Readalikes:
Guys Read: True Stories edited by Jon Scieszka
A Woman in the House (and Senate) by Ilene Cooper
George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer
Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes and Frauds who Changed History by Brianna DuMont
Where Do Presidents Come From? And Other Presidential Stuff of Super Great Importance by Michael Townsend