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!

Last week got too serious for some readers so we’ll back off from the actual issues this week to talk about kids and the electoral process. Every year since he’s been alive, BigBrother has accompanied me to the polls. To be fair, last year, whilst greatly pregnant with LittleBrother, it wasn’t a purposeful decision to take him along. It was a scheduling conflict. Such is life.

All the same, we’ve been talking about elections with BigBrother. When asked who he is voting for in the Presidential race, he will respond, “DUCK FOR PRESIDENT.” Then he will force you to read the book so don’t ask if you don’t want to sit and read through the forty pages.

BigBrother loves this book. It is one of the first that we bought through his Scholastic Book Order (which is an upcoming reason-why-I-love-preschool post) and thus we got it for far cheaper than even Amazon Prime could offer. Joy! I ordered it with doing absolutely no research on it first (which is unlike me) as I forgot to fill out the book order until the day it was due. I did my research afterward and figured we would be fine.

And were we ever!

Right now, it is the book of choice at bedtime. Perhaps it is the flow of the words. Perhaps it’s the little jokes throughout. Perhaps he enjoys reading a book about what I keep ranting and raving about when I give FireDad an earful about what people are saying on the internet. Perhaps he really thinks a duck is running for President. I don’t know. But he likes the book. And I like that he likes the book.

No. It doesn’t explain that running for President means having your family’s decisions smeared and debated. It doesn’t explain the major issues that the candidates debate, argue over and lie about in general. It doesn’t talk about truth in advertising and fair air time. It doesn’t explain that if you don’t vote the same as Joe Schmoe or Jane Doe that they will call you names and neglect to invite you to their Christmas party. It doesn’t explain the electoral college (but does delve into demanded recounts!) which might actually help some parents reading to their children.

But it does let our kids know that running the country is hard work. And it is. And we’ve talked about it. And BigBrother gets it on that almost-three-year-old level. That said, I really do think that BigBrother expects me to write in Duck for President when I vote on November 4th. Sorry, Buddy.

The book does include some education for adults as well. A feather for your thoughts, if you will. After Duck is elected and is deep in the throes of running the country, he finds that he is overwhelmed. And so, to quote,

“Duck left the Vice President in charge and headed back to the farm.”

Yikes.

I kid. I kid. Kind of.

All the same, if you’re interested in starting some conversations about the election, Duck for President is a cute little book that puts it in an easy to understand format for the kiddos. It’s non-partisan, timely, topical and a fun way to bring your kids into the political hullabaloo that is going on all around them. Without the name-calling! Win!

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 might go with another book next week. It seems to be safer.