Story Time with Sara: Duck for President

Duck for President 
written by Doreen Cronin
published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble (print), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Amazon, iBooks, Book Depository, Goodreads

Did I enjoy this book: I really enjoyed this book (perhaps a little more than my kids, but they liked it too)! My kids thought it was a funny story about a Duck running for president. I enjoyed the subtext that suggests our elected officials are just lazy, power hungry, and selfish people who spend more time running for office than they do actually making the city/district/state/country a better place for their constituents.

I also thought it was a good story to illustrate to kids the “never satisfied” culture that now permeates our country. Duck is never happy with his new elected office–he always wants more power, better perks, and more people adoring him.

So, I liked that there were culturally relevant topics I could talk about with my kids. The children, however, enjoyed the silly story, vibrant illustrations, and the fact that “sticky ballots” kept being found on the bottom of various animals, people and things.

 

Would I recommend it: I would! It’s a great book to introduce the idea of elections to young children, but it’s also just a wonderful story that will delight the whole family!

About the book – from Goodreads:

My fellow Americans:

It is our pleasure, our honor, our duty as citizens to present to you Duck for President. Here is a duck who began in a humble pond. Who worked his way to farmer. To governor. And now, perhaps, to the highest office in the land.

Some say, if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he is a duck.

We say, if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he will be the next president of the United States of America.

Thank you for your vote.