Children’s Book Review: Woodrow for President

Election year is upon us and what better way to teach children about campaigning, voting, and the election process than through Cheryl and Peter Barnes’ critically-acclaimed book Woodrow for President!

Featuring Woodrow G. Washingtail, a civic-minded mouse with presidential ambitions, Woodrow for President follows Woodrow as he runs for president of the United Mice of America.

Taking children on a journey from Woodrow’s schoolmouse days full of hard work and community service to his time as governor of Moussouri to his bid for president of the United Mice of America, Woodrow for President introduces children to campaigning, elections, volunteering, and more through this fun—and educational—story of one mouse’s dream to become the nation’s “Big Cheese.”

Featuring a contract for voting between parents and kids as well as fun activities such as “find the secret service agent” in every illustration, Woodrow for President is perfect for any child in K-4 who might one day aspire to be the “Commander in Cheese.”

My Thoughts:

While this is the first time I have ever heard of Peter and Cheryl Barnes, I was pleased to see that they have a series of books on Amazon. Out of curiosity, I read through the reviews and found it shocking that some people gave such poor ratings. Politics is complicated and these books are tools to help children grasp the basics. You can build on that knowledge over time and eventually, they’ll be mature enough to understand the complexities of politics. My daughter is in the targeted age range and I honestly hadn’t even thought about talking to her about any of this until she was somewhat older.

Someone also commented that this book would be more appreciated in a right wing home and I thought that was interesting because Woodrow Wilson was a Democrat as was Truman (who was from Missouri)… I also didn’t see anything in the other titles that indicated any sort of leanings, but I digress.

What I got from this book is the importance of civic engagement as well as the importance of allowing a child to dream. Sure, we work hard and we do good things and we may never become president, but does that mean we cannot move forward to accomplish great things? I consider myself an Idealist and it would be difficult for me to keep going if I had no goals or HOPE for the future.

I enjoyed the play on words (Moussouri instead of Missouri, for example) and the rhythmic flow of the text. This one’s a keeper.

Be sure to view the opinions of other bloggers throughout the Woodrow for President blog tour.

Disclosure: I was provided a free copy in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own!