I take it as a matter of course that people know who certain historical figures are – Cleopatra, George Washington, Helen Keller, and more. Many children don’t learn about them until their history classes later in their school years, which is why I love the Scholastic I Am series. One of the most recent additions to it is the I Am John F. Kennedy by Grace Norwich.
The books are a quick and relatively easy read that is appropriate for elementary school children. Each book is filled with illustrations on nearly every page that helps break up the story and put visuals to the story that is being told. The chapters are short and concise. Of course, plenty of information is skipped or skimmed over, but that’s fine for an introductory book about Kennedy.
I appreciate that the book helps expand learning in several ways. It has callouts throughout the book for topics ranging from Kennedy’s almost mythical photographic memory to information on his sister Rosemary to facts and figures about his wedding. Some of the callouts are great historical information, some help make Kennedy more human and relateable, and some are just interesting tidbits.
At the end of the book, there is a glossary that defines some of the words that have been called out in bold throughout the book. These are words that children may not come across often, such as debutante or moguls or tyranny. It’s nice to have the reference right there in the book to not discourage young readers.
One of my favorite parts is the ten things you should know about Kennedy, also at the end of the book. It includes a little recap of some of the highlights of Kennedy’s life as mentioned in the book, but a few are new pieces of information – some are even new to me. I had no idea before this book that Kennedy had a stillborn daughter or a son who died at two days old. There are also ten more fun things to know that are all new pieces of information and again some are just fun while others are important historical notes.
The information included in the book is disparate and runs from Kennedy’s birth to his death, helping to explain how he was the person and president he became. There are also references for more reading if you are intrigued by this introduction, as well as a list of places to visit. The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the note that Kennedy won the presidential election by “just 118,500” votes. That’s misleading, as the concept of the electoral college in electing the president is important and often misunderstood. I would have loved to see that clarified rather than just the mention of the popular vote.
Written by Michelle who loves when she reads children’s books and learns something new. See what she’s learned recently or what she can teach you on her blog Honest & Truly! and follow along with her on Twitter where she is also @HonestAndTruly.