Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Penguin Workshop (2013), Edition: Illustrated, 112 pages
Description
Presents the life and accomplishments of the First Lady of the United States, from her childhood in Chicago and her career as a lawyer to her marriage to Barack Obama and her initiatives in the White House.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member MicahCorporaal
The Who Is and Who Was biographies are great for young readers that are now becoming curious about people, history, and society. I have recommended many of Stine's books to readers typically between the ages of 7 and 11 depending on his/her reading level. This was a great general biography of an
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individual that serves as big role model for many children and adults throughout the country. It's incredible how fast these books are written and published on current celebrities and community leaders. I like how much of the book was primarily positive and encouraged the practice of working hard regardless of one's current situation. I will definitely recommend this book during future library tours. Show Less
LibraryThing member Othemts
My song picked out this children's biography to read at bedtime from the Who was?/Who is? series and we both noted that despite her prominence, neither of us knew much about Michelle Obama. So it was interesting to learn her life story, one of hard work and great accomplishments, and be reminded of
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just how quickly the Obamas went from ordinary Americans to the White House (and Michelle likely has a lot more life to live so there will be more to her story). The book included short features about some other First Ladies from America's past dispersed through the text. I thought the book tended to overemphasize Michelle Obama's beauty and fashion sense at the expense of her talents and accomplishments, but otherwise was a good introduction to her life. Show Less
LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
The Who Is/Who Was series is incredibly popular amongst its target audience of upper elementary/lower junior high students, so I've been reading a few to see how good they are. Being as they all written and illustrated by different creators, there seems to be a great deal of variation in the
This biography of Michelle Obama is of a poorer quality than the other titles I've read in the series so far. For starters, it feels like this book is more Who Is Barack Obama? lite than it is Who Is Michelle Obama?. Obviously the First Lady's story is going to be wrapped up in the President's, but at times it seemed like there were a lot more details spent on him than on her. The author also mentions about five times that Michelle Obama is beautiful. While I happen to agree, this is a subjective opinion, not a fact. Furthermore, I think in a title designed for young children, the emphasis should be far more on intelligence, work ethic, and achievement rather than on physical appearance. To be fair, those are talked about as well, but hearing about Obama's good looks twice in the prologue before even mentioning those other qualities seemed like a serious misstep.
Like with other titles in this series, the book breaks up the main text with pull-out pages with other historical information. In other titles, these are often about contextual information that enriches the reader's knowledge, such as the civil rights movement. For this title, every single one is about another First Lady and her contributions to history. This is fine in and of itself, but they were showing up long before we got to Obama becoming First Lady. One even appears directly after the prologue and before the first chapter, which felt very jarring and out of place.
On the plus side, the book is broken down into short chapters, which makes for easy places to take a break, although it is a short enough read that advanced readers could probably finish it in one or two sittings. Back matter includes a bibliography (with books for a child audience starred) and timelines of Obama's life and the world at large. The illustrations included throughout the book break up the text, but they are so loosely sketched that they really add nothing to the overall experience.
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quality of the finished product.This biography of Michelle Obama is of a poorer quality than the other titles I've read in the series so far. For starters, it feels like this book is more Who Is Barack Obama? lite than it is Who Is Michelle Obama?. Obviously the First Lady's story is going to be wrapped up in the President's, but at times it seemed like there were a lot more details spent on him than on her. The author also mentions about five times that Michelle Obama is beautiful. While I happen to agree, this is a subjective opinion, not a fact. Furthermore, I think in a title designed for young children, the emphasis should be far more on intelligence, work ethic, and achievement rather than on physical appearance. To be fair, those are talked about as well, but hearing about Obama's good looks twice in the prologue before even mentioning those other qualities seemed like a serious misstep.
Like with other titles in this series, the book breaks up the main text with pull-out pages with other historical information. In other titles, these are often about contextual information that enriches the reader's knowledge, such as the civil rights movement. For this title, every single one is about another First Lady and her contributions to history. This is fine in and of itself, but they were showing up long before we got to Obama becoming First Lady. One even appears directly after the prologue and before the first chapter, which felt very jarring and out of place.
On the plus side, the book is broken down into short chapters, which makes for easy places to take a break, although it is a short enough read that advanced readers could probably finish it in one or two sittings. Back matter includes a bibliography (with books for a child audience starred) and timelines of Obama's life and the world at large. The illustrations included throughout the book break up the text, but they are so loosely sketched that they really add nothing to the overall experience.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
112 p.; 7.62 inches
ISBN
0448478633 / 9780448478630
Other editions
Who Is Michelle Obama? (Who Was?) by Megan Stine (Paperback)