Rutherford B. Who was he? Poems about our Presidents

Rutherford B. Who was he? Poems about our Presidents

A.    Bibliography: Singer, M., & Hendrix, J. (2013). Rutherford B., who was he?: Poems about our Presidents. New York: Disney*Hyperion Books. [9781423171003]

B.     Plot Summary:

Rutherford B., who was he?: Poems about our Presidents presents information about forty-three presidents in thirty-nine different poems. Many of the president have their own page and poem, but there are a few that share with others. Marilyn Singer brings the presidents of the United States to life. The illustrations by John Hendrix are full of color and hilarious wit. The book provides each president’s most famous quote and so much more!

C.    Critical Analysis- In this book Marilyn Singer creates a book that includes each president’s failures, accomplishments, famous quotes, years they were born and years they died. Singer not only include all this information but she provides this wealth of information in the form of poems! The subject for each poem does require background knowledge for the reader to understand. I believe this book is appropriate for older readers like middle or high school students. For readers to understand information they need to have background knowledge of each president. For example, to understand Harry S. Truman’s poem reader will have to know about the atomic bombs to understand these lines: who rose from running a clothing store/to overseeing the end of a war--/then started a new one/ (an out-of-the-blue one.)  

Some poems have a nice rhyme scheme such as President John F. Kennedy’s poem which states “Vision and television made him a star. / He told us we would travel far / in the Peace Corps, to outer space. / But there were perils we would face.” Some of the other poems rhymes seem forced. One of the strengths of this book is the magnitude of information. The illustrations are similar to political cartoons you would see in the newspaper. The detail of each illustration is amazing and adds more depth to the book. It was a nice touch to include short quotes said by the presidents on many of the pages. The poems paired with their illustrations help to convey the emotions behind each presidency.

D.    Review excerpts

“Most libraries will want to make room for this one; it's a wonderful teaching tool for U.S. history and a delightful, readable book for a wide audience of browsers”-SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

“Colorful artwork recalls political cartoons of yore, grounding poems in their respective eras, and highlights presidential quotations. Carefully crafted poetry and artwork ideally suited to history buffs.” KIRKUS REVIEW

E.     Connections

Read other books by Marilyn Singer

·         Echo Echo: Reverso Poems about Greek Myths. ( 0803739923)

·         A Stick Is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play. ( 0547124937)

Read other books illustrated by John Hendrix

·         Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero. By Marissa Moss. (0810997355)

·         A Boy Called Dickens. By Deborah Hopkinson. ( 0375867325)

Read other books about presidents

·         Provensen, Alice. The Buck Stops Here. ( 0147509467)

·         Small, David. So You Want to Be President?: The Revised and Updated Edition. By Judith St. George. (0399243178)

Unit about presidents

Student create their own poem about a famous person

Create a bottle person representing a page from the book.