One evening in 1865 President Abraham Lincoln sits quietly in the White House waiting for his wife, Mary. Tonight they will go to Ford’s theater. “I told Mary that tonight is a time to be happy.” The Civil War is over and the Union has won. The slaves are free.

While he waits, he recalls his life’s journey from the childhood log cabin with one square window to his life in the White House and his deep sadness, “the great wound opened in the country and in my chest—the war.”

Author, Ann Turner notes, “This book should not be read as a biography but rather as an imaginative exploration of the side of history that the facts cannot always give us.” She concludes with historical notes.

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SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT? By Judith St. George (Ages 8-12)

Do you want to be President? Do you think you could be President? Were all of our Presidents qualified? You be the judge.

David Small won the Caldecott medal for his illustrative hilarity of Judith St. George’s anecdotal comments about our Presidents.

There’s good things about being President: you don’t have to eat yucky vegetables, you get to use a private swimming pool, bowling alley and movie theater. There are also bad things: the President can’t go anywhere alone and has to always be all dressed up. Names are important, especially if you are named James. And if you were born in a log cabin, you already have a better chance of being elected (eight of our Presidents were born in log cabins and one President won with a “log cabin and hard cider” slogan).

Presidents come in all sizes. Some of our Presidents were tall like Abe and some were quite small like James Madison (5’4” and 100 pounds). Howard Taft was our largest president weighing in at 300 pounds. There’s a marvelous illustration of Taft being hoisted by crane into a custom built tub that could fit four people.

A few of our Presidents were very young at heart, some were shy and others were tough guys. Some were frugal and some were extravagant. Some were musically inclined, while others thought they were! Nine Presidents didn’t go to college and Andrew Johnson could not read until he was fourteen and didn’t learn to write until after he was married!

All or our Presidents have one thing in common. Every President has taken a thirty-five word oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

At the back of the book there is an excellent chronological one-line bio of each President.

This book is a treat!

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

“Far better it is to dare mighty things to win glorious triumphs even though checkered with failure than to live in that grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
-- Theodore Roosevelt