Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Genre: PoetryCopyright date: 2013This book was very unique! Marilyn Singer used a variety of poetry styles to write a poem about each of the presidents. Not only is this a great book to teach different types of poetry, it also was a way to pique interest in the presidents. I found as I was reading that she gave me just enough information about each president to make me want to learn more! Luckily, she included a few pages in the back dedicated to a short biography about each of the presidents! I disliked the negative tone of the poems. Each seemed to dwell on the bad qualities of the presidents, the mistakes they made, even popular presidents like Lincoln and Kennedy weren't given the shining spotlight they usually receive. As for the content of the poems I feel like readers have to be well read in American history because the poems mention specific legislation or take on a back and forth conversational approach and serves to confuse more than inform the reader. The art in the poetry is dependent on a strong knowledge of history; I believe that using the artform to inform readers who don't know much about the history is a much better approach for a juvenile audience.Illustrations were decent, though ripe with emotion. The spread for Kennedy/Johnson, for example, is predominately blue which invokes a great sadness in readers.I was really excited to read this book initially, but the negative take on the presidencies turned me off. In my opinion, The President's Stuck in the Bathtub by Susan Katz much more appropriately achieves its goal to entertain and inform for a juvenile audience.
What do You think about Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents (2013)?
Pithy presidential rhymes and great illustrations by John Hendrix.
—roxanne3
Quick, fun and I always love John Hendrix illustrations.
—Jmoussa1234
