Is It November Yet: If I Ran for President

Last week I stayed away from the issues and offered up a review of a book we recently purchased. And it still ticked people off. Apparently kid politics are still too much for adults to handle. All the same, I grabbed another book this week and I’m going to tell you about it. Hold on to your horses.

If I Ran For President is a great book. BigBrother is able to sit through the entire book but I will admit that it is sometimes over his head. There are concepts that he just doesn’t yet get. However, he asks questions, points out things that he does know and really likes a few special pages in the book. Therefore, in my opinion, it isn’t too early to read it to him. If he whined, cried or refused to pay attention, I’d put it aside until later. Since he is paying attention, it is now in our timely-topic rotation along with Duck for President, Pumpkin Town!, I Spy A Pumpkin and Who Loves the Fall? (The latter of which you mustmustmust buy if you are a fall loving family. Quick easy read!)

Anyway, If I Ran for President hits on the things that others complained about regarding Duck. We have talk of political parties. (Though they threw third parties into quotation marks which makes them look like non-real parties and that didn’t sit well with me.) Talk of conventions. Of campaigning. Of election results. Of not being a sore loser. BigBrother’s favorite page is the one with the map (while they are talking about how everyone in the country goes to vote) because we’ve been working on states. We get stuck on this two page spread for about five minutes but it is worth it!

I found it interesting that this book was published in 2007, long before the drama of this particular election hit the fan. It is almost as if the author had a crystal ball in which the future was observed. This particular paragraph, as the child talks about deciding whether or not to run for President, tickles me every time I read it. BigBrother has no idea why I’m laughing. But I’m laughing.

I’d have to think carefully about my decision to run for president. I would want to know how my family felt about it, too.

Then I’d ask myself: “Am I the best person for the job? Am I ready to work VERY, VERY, VERY hard for my country? Do lots of people believe in me, and will they help me run for office?”

See? Funny! Adult political innuendo aside, another thing I love about the book is the diversity of the children talking about running for President. Girls, boys and various ethnic features, nothing keeps the child from deciding to run. I love (love!) books with diversity and while Duck was able to beat out humans, it was nice to see diversity among humans as well.

The best part about this book? After I finished reading this book to BigBrother the other night, I told him that it was a very important book. I told him that in November, we would vote for a new President. After I got him back on the topic of voting and the election after mentioned the word November which is automatically associated with his birthday, he told me that he was going to be President someday. When I told him that was a very cool idea, he told me he was going to be a firefighting President. New meaning to hero, no?

Another great thing about If I Ran For President is that since it is really written for an older audience, it will be useful to us in another four years and LittleBrother will benefit from the purchase as well. Perhaps your family would benefit, too?

Every Tuesday through November 4, 2008, we will be discussing something political here on Stop, Drop & Blog. Our weekly series is entitled “Is It November Yet” because, well, we’re excited for change, ready for the number of posts in our Google Reader to go down and overwhelmed with the wealth of information to search through. I’ll be back to being all controversial and in your face next week. WOO!