Book Summary:
Duck for President begins with duck working on Farmer Brown's farm, and his chores include taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, and grinding coffee beans. He soon decides that he is tired of his chores and that he should take Farmer Brown's place and run the farm, so he holds the farms first election. After establishing the voter registration rules, Duck wins the election and is officially in charge of the farm, but he soon learns that running a farm is also hard work and decides he wants to run for governor instead. He completed his campaign throughout the state and on election day duck won the election and was officially Governor. Running a state is hard work, so Duck begins his campaign for President and after the votes were counted, Duck was the new President. After running the country for a while, Duck decides that being President is hard work and no fun at all, so he checks the help-wanted ad and see a position for a duck to grind coffee beans and mow the lawn, so Duck returned to the farm to work on his autobiography.
APA Reference of Book:
Cronin, D. (2004). Duck for president. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Impressions:
Duck for President is a great book that teaches children a little bit about the campaign and voting processes. While there is not a lot of detail involved, it is a great introduction and can set the stage for children to have a positive outlook on voting. I read this book to my three year old little boy and he enjoyed it very much. The repetition that was used with the wording made it easier for him to follow along that the same things were happening but it was for different jobs, or he knew that they would find more tickets somewhere when they demanded a recount. He loves animals, so the fact that the main character in this case was a duck made it much more fun for him than if it has been a person running for President. There are many children in this age group that would also be interested in this book because of the animals.
Professional Review:
As previous adventures (Click, Clack, Moo, BCCB 9/00, Giggle, Giggle, Quack, 6/02) have shown, Farmer Brown's barnyard is filled with political animals. It's therefore not surprising that Duck , rebelling against his contribution to labor, decides that an election for the leadership of the farm should be held; nor is it hugely surprising, given the livestock-heavy electorate, that Duck trounces Farmer Brown in the election. Finding that running a farm is no fun at all, Duck decides to expand his ambitions and makes a gubernatorial run, successfully winning over the incumbent. Running a state's not much better, though, so he then campaigns for the White House, edging out the incumbent there; unsurprisingly, running a country proves to be just as tedious as the previous positions, so Duck hands over the reins to the Veep and heads back to the farm. This has even more adult-aimed jokes than previous versions (lots of evocations of specific campaigns in the text and classic images in the art), and in light of the 2000-esque jokes about recounts, it's a tad ironic (or pointed?) that the book relies on narrow popular-vote margins to get Duck into office. There's still plenty of humor for the pre -voting audience, however, such as lazy Duck's winning of all the elections and regretting it soon after and the regular request for a recount (always made by Duck's opponent, always resolved by the finding of ballots stuck to somebody or other, and always performed to the opponent's detriment). Lewin's thick lines have a homey irregularity in keeping with the slightly skewed reality of the world they limn, with washes of color (often election-year red, white, and blue) decorating the pages like bunting; Duck himself isn't all that charismatic a figure as a candidate (a compromise choice, perhaps?), but he hits his real dramatic stride when he's mournfully overworked. This will be a natural to liven up units on the democratic process or even to introduce classroom elections--or just as a read aloud antidote to the election-year plethora of paid political announcements.
Stevenson, D. (2004, May). Duck for president. Bulletin of the center for children's books, 57(9), 367-369. http://bccb.lis.illinois.edu/
Library Uses:
Duck for President would be great to use during a story time event for preschool or elementary age children. After reading the book, the children would receive a red, white, and blue Fourth of July play hat similar to the ones that can be bought from oriental trading, and would have their first voting experience to determine one of the biggest decisions at that age, what should we have for snack? The children will get to vote on whether they would like one snack or the other such as blue kool-aid or red kool-aid, or cookies decorated with flags or cookies decorated with stars. The children will be given a ballot with a red box and a blue box for them to circle with their crayon which one they are voting for and will get to drop it in the decorated ballot box. Then they will get another voting slip with a star and a flag for them to circle with their crayon which decoration they would like to have on their cookie. After everyone has voted the results will be tallied and the snacks that the majority chose will be passed out. After snacks, each child will also receive an "I voted" sticker to wear home with their hat.
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