Smart About the First Ladies: Smart About History

by Sally Warner, Jon Buller (Illustrator), Susan Schade (Illustrator), Dana Regan (Illustrator), Jill Weber (Illustrator)

Overview

For every president, there has been a first lady, sometimes two. Who were these women? How has the job of First Lady (unpaid and unelected) changed over time? The Smart About format proves just right for covering history in an easy, appealing way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780448437248
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	12/29/2004
Series:	Smart About History
Edition description:	REV & Updated--Cover ed.
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	1,040,934
Product dimensions:	7.06(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.19(d)
Lexile:	NC750L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Sally Warner (www.sallywarner.com) has published more than twenty novels for young readers, including the Emma and EllRay Jakes series. She lives in Altadena, California with her husband and their not-so-miniature dachshund, Rocky. 

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3-5-Both of these basic books begin with the same letter from a teacher to her class about doing a group report. What follows are cartoon illustrations with dialogue bubbles and brief texts about each figure. In First Ladies, for example, Mary Todd Lincoln explains that "Abraham scolded me for shopping too much"; Rachel Jackson informs readers that, "There was a scandal over my divorce to my first husband and it caused me great shame." In Presidents, readers learn that Clinton loved golf, peanut butter and banana, and fast food, and that Bush banned broccoli from the White House. Both books are far better for browsing than for gleaning much information. Amy Pastan's First Ladies (DK, 2001), Sydelle A. Kramer's The Look-It-Up Book of First Ladies (Random, 2001), Kenneth C. Davis's Don't Know Much about the Presidents (HarperCollins, 2002), and Judith St. Georges's So You Want to Be President? (Philomel, 2000) are better choices.-Rebecca Luhman, Greece Central School District, Rochester, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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