So You Want to be a World Explorer? by Judith St. George

So You Want to be a World Explorer? by Judith St. George, illustrated by David Small

Rating: 4.5 stars

This book has a bunch of my favorite words: Plucky. Thrilling. Adventuresome. Gutsy.  Gusto. Risk. Spunky. Moxie.  These new vocabulary words are reasons enough to bring this book home from the library more than once!

We liked So You Want to be President? but didn't love it.  It seemed a bit disorganized, though the illustrations from the great David Small were too great to linger on that negative.  Judith St. George rectified her mistake and organized this book and So You Want to be an Inventor? and made them great, rather than good.  And the illustrations catapult them into amazing.  These are terrific books for the older picture book reader.  (Younger ones will still get drawn into the pictures, but there is just too much information for kids younger than 5, I think.)

In this book, after a brief introduction, Judith St. George takes one attribute of explorers (for example, they might make a discovery and not even know it; they make mistakes like everyone else; they must be risk takers; they must respect the natives) and gives two examples.  These examples are three to five short sentences, so we're going for breadth not depth here.  This is just to whet a child's appetite, to provide the briefest introduction, to pique their curiosity to this whole explorer stuff.  Or to provide some quality imaginative kid-planned explorations in their backyard, a local park, or even their bathtub.

As someone whose wanderlust led most of my decisions in my twenties, I like the idea of exploring different parts of the earth.  Therefore, I greatly appreciated St. George's broad definition of exploring.  At the end she includes gene exploration, something I would never have thought of.  She ends the book by inviting kids to start and keep exploring--what a way to spend your life!  I might just quit my day job.

I recently reviewed another book on exploring--the never-to-be-topped Lonely Planet has come out with books beyond guide books.  They are really interesting, and we keep our copy of How to be a World Explorer in the car.  It's perfect for long car rides where a kid's attention span might be challenged by a looooong car ride...  Yet another book that will help plant the travel bug in your child (for better or for worse!).

So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George

So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George, illustrated by David Small

Rating: 4.5 stars

Here's a book to introduce the Presidents to your kids.  Not exactly the Presidency...it doesn't shed light on executive orders or what Commander in Chief means.  For me, the story line is a little disorganized and messy--each page is a different aspect of a President's life, from what he eats to what pets he had, from the jobs he held prior to being President to what states most Presidents are from.  There's a lot going on for kids who don't have a firm foundation of these guys.

But the illustrations!  David Small is one of the best in the business; he makes me think that books should be cataloged in the library by illustrators (yes, I know this is crazy and impossible, but a girl can dream, can't she?).  The Caldecott he won for this book is much-deserved in my opinion.  He's created quirky characters doing funny, memorable things, turning what could be seen as stuffy history into fascinating, fun stuff.

Here are some pictures that are going to stay in Lorelei's mind for a long, long time:

Nixon installed a bowling alley in the basement of the White House.

Teddy Roosevelt's kids brought up a pony to cheer up a sick sibling.

Warren Harding winning the Presidential Beauty Contest.

300 lb Taft and his four-person tub!

I know that there's not a ton of historical information here that is going to be handy on a future Social Studies test.  BUT!  There are funny pictures galore, and the book and its fantastic illustrations make learning about Presidents chuckle-worthy.  Can't beat that!