A Picture Book of George Washington

Yesterday was Presidents' Day here in the states, a federal holiday that originally commemorated the birthday of George Washington (February 22nd, 1732), but which now celebrates all of our presidents. In honor of the day, I decided to track down a picture-book biography of our first president, and having recently read some other entries in David A. Adler's Picture Book Biographies series, settled upon this one, as a likely candidate for a first introduction to the subject for young children. The narrative here outlines the many events of Washington's turbulent life, from his childhood in Virginia to his service in the French and Indian War, his leadership of the American forces during the Revolution, and his election as the new show more nation's first president. The text is accompanied by the illustrations of John and Alexandra Wallner, and a timeline is included at the rear.

First published in 1989, A Picture Book of George Washington was the sixth entry in Adler's series, and provides (with one exception) a good basic introduction to its subject's life. The text is simple and easily understood, and while it doesn't really give much background information regarding the historical causes of any of the events chronicled, it gives enough that young children will understand the major periods in Washington's life, coming away with an appreciation for all he accomplished. My main criticism of the book would be that it never mentions the fact that Washington was a slave owner, either in the main narrative or in the timeline. This surprised me, as the first volume from this series that I read, A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus, did mention (however briefly) the deleterious effects of Columbus' voyage on the native peoples of the Caribbean. I understand that in books intended for this age group - I would say it is suitable for children between four and six years old - it is appropriate to concentrate more on the positive aspects of the subject under discussion, but I nevertheless feel uncomfortable seeing all of the negatives simply omitted. A simple mention of the fact that Washington owned slaves, perhaps followed by the information that he posthumously freed them, would have sufficed here, given the nature of this book. In the end, I think this is a title I would only recommend in conjunction with some other picture-book about the subject, and I suspect, much as with my current project to find picture-books about Martin Luther King Jr. that I would recommend, I have a new project on my hands. show less

A Picture Book of George Washington, is a cute book over the life of George Washington. The books covers fact about him from when he was a boy to when he died. The book start by telling us that when George was a boy he loved to fish and ride horses. As he got older he learned to land survey and that became his job. At the age of 21 he was in the English army and helped them win the war against France. When the King of England try to tax the English/American colonies to help pay for the war, the people were angry. George Washington was a great leader in the fight against England during the American Revolution. George Washington was appointed our first president because of his leadership and our Nation’s capital is named after him.
I show more enjoyed this book. There are a lot of facts and I think it is great for children to know these things about George Washington, I didn’t even know everything in the book. Having a picture book I think will keep children’s attention, because it will seem like any other story they have listen to. I feel like they can relate to the color pictures more than to the old photographs.
Classroom extensions:
1. After the book the children could make a graphic organizer about George Washington, answering the questions was, had, and wanted.
2. For younger children the class could make a George Washington head out of a paper plate, cotton balls (wig), and his blue hat. show less

This a book that I loved just as much as the one about Abe Lincoln. Learning about historical figures can be challenging because of the words and terms that they author uses. This picture book brings to life a whole new meaning of learning about a president because through the illustrations allows more connections to be made. I would recommend this book to any elementary grade level. In the upper grades, you could pair this book with a nonfiction book about George Washington which will help students compare and contrast the two. This book is simplistic which makes reading it to younger readers even more recognizable. This book talks about his life and the timeline of events. It starts off with him being born and continuing through all show more of those important details that students should know. It really focuses on the events that lead up to the revolutionary war. It also discusses how his life was during the presidency and ending in his death. How this book is written, it is a great introductory for students, which will prepare them for the upper history classes that they will take up until their college years. Overall, this was a great book that can really spark the interest of any reader. show less

I think this is a good children's book. I like the layout of the story. I like that the author included only necessary information into the story with his important life events because sometimes biographies include too much information, which loses the attention of the reader. I also like that the book is written for children of young age groups. It is informational, but is presented in simple words for younger readers. It can be difficult to find biographies for young children that are on their level. I think the main message of this book is to aspire to be a leader.

Retelling: This is a very fact-driven biography of George Washington. The author makes few attempts to highlight any personal characteristics of George Washington or speculate about how circumstances made him feel. Instead, the author focuses on events in George Washington's life and how old he was when they occurred.

Thoughts and Feelings: Well... you can't accuse this author of trying to put forward any kind of message or agenda using President Washington as a vehicle. This is pretty straightforward: this-is-the-guy, these-were-the-times account. This author says "George Washington was a great leader." I don't like it when authors tell me what to think. Show me what great leadership looks like and let me decide.

The big idea of this book is to inform young readers about George Washington's life and him impact on America.

I had mixed feelings about this book. I liked that the book's purpose is to inform young readers about someone so important in this country's history. The story is organized and the information shared is accurate. For example, as I was reading through the book, the dates and facts shared were things that I can recall learning about in many of my American history classes.

However, I also didn't like this book because I personally didn't think the writing was very engaging. It just told the story but had no expression. This isn't a good thing because it is important to keep young readers interested while they read and I think it show more is definitely possible to inform young readers and still make it fun. show less

I liked this book because of the writing and illustrations. The writing was well organized, starting from George Washington's birth and ending at his death. It also flowed very well and could be read by various ages. The illustrations put you in the time of the story and are very well detailed for viewers. I thought the book was overall very interesting and chose good facts to share about George Washington. The big idea of the story was to show the life of George Washington.