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Democracy is a tough concept to teach to children. Most families and schools are run more like benevolent dictatorships than full-fledged democracies. And for good reason, most parents would add. But the final days of a presidential campaign is a good time to talk to our youngest constituents about elections and presidents. Here are six books that should help, all tested at home with two 4-year-olds:
* Max for President by Jarrett J. Krosoczka is a sweet, simple account of what happens after Mrs. Antonio announces that it's time to elect a new class president.
Max declares his candidacy. So does Kelly. Max makes promises: "Better indoor recesses." So does Kelly: "Better school lunches."
One wins, one doesn't. What happens next would never occur among grown-up politicians.
Krosoczka doesn't make an issue of any gender gap between Max and Kelly's voters, although my son said he'd vote for Max and my daughter supported Kelly.
But they liked the ending and Krosoczka's colorful drawings of kids with oversized heads.
* Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin is the third in the delightful series about a barnyard rebellion that began with Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type.
Duck is the hero here, challenging overworked Farmer Brown with campaign posters that proclaim: "VOTE DUCK! For a Kinder, Gentler Farm!"
After the votes are counted and recounted, including one sticky ballot found stuck to the bottom of a pig, Duck's political career is launched. He's one ambitious Duck and is soon eyeing higher office.
Can a duck be president? No, says my son. But Duck can read, and that makes all the difference.
* A Woman for President by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Jane Dyer is a child-friendly biography of Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president. She was the Equal Rights Party's nominee in 1872, when women still were barred from voting.
Woodhull led a life out of a novel. She was a child preacher and later made millions by offering Cornelius Vanderbilt financial advice from the spirit world.
Dyer's old-fashioned watercolors are lovely. Krull's fascinating text was over my kids' heads, but led to a discussion about a female president. Kate liked the idea. But James asked, "Don't presidents have to wear ties?" We decided a president can wear whatever he, or she, wants.
* What Presidents Are Made Of by Hanoch Piven is a quirky tour of presidential trivia by an artist who fashions portraits out of objects (see pivenworld.com).
He matches the objects with the presidential personalities. George W. Bush, the first president to have owned a baseball team (the Texas Rangers), has a hot dog for a nose, buns for eyebrows and a baseball for a mouth. My kids call him, for better or worse, "the hot dog president."
The text is as surprising as the art. Who knew Bill Clinton (pictured stuffing his face with an apple pie) got a C in grade school for raising his hand too often? Or that Theodore Roosevelt loved playing hide-and-seek with his six kids, insisting on always being "it."
Richard Nixon comes off the worst, made of telephone cords for hair and an answering machine for a face. Based on the art alone, my kids call him "the mean president."
* Call Me Madam President by Sue Pyatt, illustrated by Keith Gaston is a whimsical story, in verse, of a precocious, curly-haired 8-year-old who pretends she's president:
"When fielding questions from the press/I know how to show finesse./I don't have time to skip a beat/and must think fast upon my feet."
Gaston's illustrations capture the beauty and grandeur of Washington, D.C., and make it a useful field guide for young tourists headed to the nation's capital.
* D Is for Democracy by Elissa Grodin, illustrated by Victor Juhasz is an earnest, alphabetized civics lesson in verse: "Q is for the Questions all of us should ask./Taking part in a democracy is every citizen's task."
Grodin's text and Juhasz's artwork emphasize that democracy depends on citizen participation. It ends with a startling drawing of two pages of faces, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Thomas Jefferson, all pointing at the reader in the manner of the famed military recruiting poster and saying, "We want YOU to get INVOLVED."
Good idea, but there will be no voting on when to go to bed, what to eat, or how much TV to watch.
For more election-related titles for students K-12, see the Children's Book Council's recommendations at cbcbooks.org.