Editorial Review

Presidential biography becomes more accessible with these appealing volumes. An uncluttered layout, large-type font, and high-quality illustrations invite children to delve into each page. Oil portraits and photographs capture each man’s likeness at various stages of his life, while period paintings, posters, maps and political cartoons provide the social and political backdrop of the United States as he knew it. The authors discuss the people and events that shaped each individual before and during his presidency, and they establish his impact on the office as well as on the nation. Frequent sidebars of ‘Interesting Facts’ are just as engaging and informative as the main text. All three books contain a page of presidential facts and a chronological listing of all of our nation’s leaders with thumbnail portraits, birthplace, term of office, life span, party affiliation, and First Lady. These are worthy alternatives to titles in the ‘United States Presidents’ series (ABDO/Checkerboard), which are notable for their basic text but are narrower in scope.