Status
Available
Local notes
921 OBA
Collection
Genres
Publication
Penguin Workshop (2009), Edition: Original, 112 pages, $5.99, (Jan. 2018)
Description
As the world now knows, Barack Obama has made history as our first African-American president. With black-and-white illustrations throughout, this biography is perfect for primary graders looking for a longer, fuller life story than is found in the author's bestselling beginning reader Barack Obama: United States President.
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
112 p.; 5.31 inches
User reviews
LibraryThing member justkaye
This book brings the reader through the life of our current president Barack Obama. This is a small chapter book for young readers in third through fifth grade. This book could be used in the classroom for younger children in kindergarten through second if the teacher read a little each day aloud
-teach children about our president
-expose young readers to longer chapter books
-show children how a bibliography works
-talk about point of view
-start a lesson that is structured around each child's bibliography
-compare presidents of today and years ago
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to the class. The younger children would also benefit from using a small part of the book. This book would be great in the classroom to:-teach children about our president
-expose young readers to longer chapter books
-show children how a bibliography works
-talk about point of view
-start a lesson that is structured around each child's bibliography
-compare presidents of today and years ago
Show Less
LibraryThing member mariahpolen
I am a fan of the Who Is (was) collection of books. You can learn about people from today and the past. They are very informative, I would recommend the entire series, Helen Keller, and Martin Luther King to name a couple.
LibraryThing member AllieR93
This book talks about the life of Barack Obama up until he became president. Barack Obama had a relatively hard childhood. He grew up without his father, he did not have friends in school, and with being a mixed child he did not seem to belong anywhere. Obama was also very determined and
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intelligent. He wanted to help others and even graduated from Harvard law school. This book also provides prior knowledge so readers understand some concepts in the book. For instance, it discussed the civil rights movement, prior presidential candidates and the war on Iraq. This book shows the life of Barack Obama and what influenced him to being the President that he has become. 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. This series is constantly flying off the shelves at the library, so I decided to check a few out to see what the fuss is all about. To get a fair sense of the scope and
This biography of President Obama falls into the first category. Overall, I was impressed with this biographical offering. The book follows Obama from his birth to his re-election in 2012, focusing more on his years before the presidency. Perhaps avoiding the political realities (including controversies) is a good move for a book geared for children, but I thought just a tiny more information about that aspect would be beneficial.
Along the way, the book covers a fair amount of detail and provides pull-out contextual pieces where needed. For instance, the book does not simply mention that Obama spent some of his childhood in Indonesia; it goes on to have a one-page overview of where Indonesia is, what its climate is like, how many people live there, etc. These pull-outs are great for making sure children really understand what they are reading, instead of skimming over some factoid and forgetting it soon after because it has no connection to anything they already know.
The book is broken down into short chapters, which makes for easy places to take a break. However, it is a short and quick 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 latter one is a random mish-mosh of hugely important events (e.g., the Iraq War) and really rather insignificant ones (e.g., the 50th anniversary of the Barbie doll). Even though some of the choices were bizarre, I do like the world timeline for providing even more context to this biography.
The illustrations included in the book are so bad as to be almost useless. They break up the text, but they are so loosely sketched that it's often difficult to see what's going on in them. There were also a few details here and there where I thought the book missed the mark. For instance, in describing Obama's campaign and presidency, there is only one brief mention of his and McCain's "running mates." In other words, Vice President Joe Biden is never referred to by name once. I think a sentence or two would have been a wise inclusion. In an earlier section, the text makes note of the terrorist attacks on September 11 as being perpetrated by "a Muslim group called Al Qaeda." Al Qaeda is as much a "Muslim group" as the Lord's Resistance Army is a "Christian group." It may seem minor, but that kind of language reinforces negative stereotypes and I can't help but think a young Muslim child reading that would be hurt by it.
On the whole though, this book does its job of teaching kids about Obama's life.
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accuracy of the books, I chose a few subjects for whom I know a decent amount about, and a few subjects where my knowledge beyond the very basics is lacking. This biography of President Obama falls into the first category. Overall, I was impressed with this biographical offering. The book follows Obama from his birth to his re-election in 2012, focusing more on his years before the presidency. Perhaps avoiding the political realities (including controversies) is a good move for a book geared for children, but I thought just a tiny more information about that aspect would be beneficial.
Along the way, the book covers a fair amount of detail and provides pull-out contextual pieces where needed. For instance, the book does not simply mention that Obama spent some of his childhood in Indonesia; it goes on to have a one-page overview of where Indonesia is, what its climate is like, how many people live there, etc. These pull-outs are great for making sure children really understand what they are reading, instead of skimming over some factoid and forgetting it soon after because it has no connection to anything they already know.
The book is broken down into short chapters, which makes for easy places to take a break. However, it is a short and quick 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 latter one is a random mish-mosh of hugely important events (e.g., the Iraq War) and really rather insignificant ones (e.g., the 50th anniversary of the Barbie doll). Even though some of the choices were bizarre, I do like the world timeline for providing even more context to this biography.
The illustrations included in the book are so bad as to be almost useless. They break up the text, but they are so loosely sketched that it's often difficult to see what's going on in them. There were also a few details here and there where I thought the book missed the mark. For instance, in describing Obama's campaign and presidency, there is only one brief mention of his and McCain's "running mates." In other words, Vice President Joe Biden is never referred to by name once. I think a sentence or two would have been a wise inclusion. In an earlier section, the text makes note of the terrorist attacks on September 11 as being perpetrated by "a Muslim group called Al Qaeda." Al Qaeda is as much a "Muslim group" as the Lord's Resistance Army is a "Christian group." It may seem minor, but that kind of language reinforces negative stereotypes and I can't help but think a young Muslim child reading that would be hurt by it.
On the whole though, this book does its job of teaching kids about Obama's life.
Show Less
Similar in this library
Lexile
740L
Pages
112