Duck For President

Bibliography
Cronin, Doreen. 2004. Duck For President. Ill. by Besty Lewin. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.
ISBN: 0439671442

Plot Summary

Duck lives on a farm with Farmer Brown. Every day, Farmer Brown leaves the animals a list of chores to do. One day, Duck decides that he does not want to do the chores, and he wants to be in charge. Even though Farmer Brown is furious, Duck sets up an election, registers the animals to vote and holds an election. Farmer Brown is out of a job. Duck quickly learns that being in charge of a farm is hard work. He decides to run for governor. He again wins the election but realizes that running a state is "no fun at all". Thinking that the top office must be the easiest job, he decides to campaign for the office of president. Eventually Duck decides that being the President is not what he expected it to be. Checking the help-wanted ads, he decides to return to the farm. Once there he starts his autobiography.

Critical Analysis

This very funny book is a great read for people of all ages. It introduces the political process in an engaging way. The reader comes to understand what it means to be on the "campaign trail". Duck stays busy stopping at diners, participating in parades and town meetings, speaking to special populations (only ducks could understand) and kissing babies in order to win votes. The problem of recounts is addressed in a most humorous way. In each election several "sticky" ballots are found stuck to the seat of a character's bottom. Much to the amazement of the other candidate, the number of Duck's votes increased with each recount. Duck For President does a great job of explaining the election process but also teaches an important lesson-the grass is not always greener on the other side.


Lewin's use of watercolor and brush for the illustrations add to the humour of the story. Young and old readers alike will love the surprised expressions on the opposing candidates' faces as they realize that they have lost the election. Large bold strokes of black for the posters leave no doubt of who has won . The illustrations followed the text pefectly allowing younger readers to "see" what a town hall meeting, parade and speech look like. Near the end of the book the use of the color blue helps to set the tone. The dark blue of the oval office and bright white light coming in through the windows help readers see that running the nation is no easy task.

Review Excerpts

Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May 2004 (Vol. 57, No. 9))

This will be a natural to liven up units on the democratic process or even to introduce classroom elections--or just as a read aloud antidote to the election-year plethora of paid political announcements. Grades 2-4.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr. 2 Lewin's characteristic humorous watercolors with bold black outlines fill the pages with color and jokes. Cronin's text is hilarious for kids and adults and includes a little math and quite a bit about the electoral process. The animals, who have no verbal language that humans can understand, are empowered by the use of the written word, and the subliminal message comes through loud and clear--one can almost hear youngsters thinking, "Watch out grown-ups! Just wait till I learn to read."

Connections

Although this book is written for younger children, it is a perfect book to discuss what a "theme" of a story is with middle schoolers. The moral "the grass is not always greener on the other side" is easy to identify.

This book is also an excellant way to build vocabularywith all students but also with ESL students of all ages. Here are some of the most important words: autobiography, help-wanted ads, governor, president, voting booths, campaign, campaign trail, town meetings, recount, election, ballot, voter registration, tally.

The Scholastic online lesson plan for this book can be found at this link:

http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=2946

Dorthy Cronin's website: http://www.doreencronin.com/doreen_14.swf

Social Studies: This is an excellent source for helping students understand the election process.

Other books about the election process:

Woodrow for President: A Tail of Voting, Campaigns, and Elections by Peter W. Barnes. ISBN: 1893622010

Election Day (Ready to Read. Level 1) by Margaret McNamara. ISBN: 0689864256

Pass It Down: Five Picture Book Families Make Their Mark

Bibliography
Marcus, Leonard S. 2007. Pass It Down: Five Picture Book Families Make Their Mark. New York, NY: Walker Publishing Company, ISBN: 080279600-I

Plot Summary
Leonard S. Marcus introduces the reader to five famous families who have written and illustrated children’s picture books. The book includes biographies, interviews, family photos, and artwork, of The Crews and Jonas Family, The Hurd Family, The Meyers Family, The Pinkney Family and The Rockwell Family.

Critical Analysis
Marcus leads the reader in a brief, thought provoking introduction about how physical and ability traits are often passed down from parents to their children. He points out that through love, encouragement and support parents can help their children hone these talents and turn them into a profession. Each chapter is a family album providing interviews, personal memories, and examples of the family’s art. These examples provide the reader with a glimpse of what it is to be an author and or illustrator. Marcus not only gives us a view of these families’ personal lives and unique styles of art and writing, but also provides photographs, rough drafts and actual editor’s letters. These rough drafts and letters allow readers see that authors and illustrators go through a process when writing and illustrating books. The reader really gets a sense of who these families are and how art and literature permeates throughout their homes. This book will be of special interest to librarians, teachers and those who want to know more about these very famous families.

Review Excerpts
The Horn Book Magazine: Marcus provides a glimpse into these families' lives, leaving it to the reader to spot the interesting similarities and differences between them. The main audience will probably be children's librarians and teachers, but the writing level is perfectly in keeping with elementary-school children, and the style is chatty and anecdotal. Photos of the book creators and reproductions of their work illustrate the text. S.D.L.

School Library Journal: Grade 4 up. Marcus carefully makes the point that, although perhaps blessed with some inherited talent and encouraged by their parents, all of the children pursued their art with diligence and have emerged with their own unique styles. -Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ

Connections
Author's Website: http://www.leonardmarcus.com/index.html

Activity: This is an excellent book to use when doing an author study of any or all of these author/illustrators. Read several of the books from each of these family's members and then share their chapter from Pass It Down.

Other books about creating and illustrating picture books:

Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art by Eric Carle ISBN: 0399246002
Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang ISBN: 1587170302
Side By Side: Five Favorite Picture Book Teams Go to Work by Leonard S. Marcus ISBN: 0802796165

First Day of Class

Hi everyone. This is my first post on my new blog for Literature for Children and Young Adults, LS 5603.20 with Dr. Vardell. I look forward to the class.