Story does a decent job of explaining the electoral college and the processes involved in campaigning (including making good on your campaign promises!)Ī little annoying that the boy competing against Grace is so stereotypically full of himself. Love her initiative in wanting to become president of her class - and, eventually, President of the United States. Grace is an outgoing, strong, intelligent kid who also happens to be a person of color and a female. I'm finding it surprisingly challenging to find good picture books about the election process for my children, ages 7 and 4 (if you know any, please shout out in the comments!) This book has a lot going for it, though I do have a few quibbles. It's still an upsetting book for this mommy to read. I like the diversity, the illustrations are cute. It's a great book to explain how the electoral college works.

Well, I actually did read this to my child, but at 9-months she didn't quite understand my perspective. If I were reading this book to my child, we'd have a discussion about privilege and how it shows up in this book. Girls have to work twice as hard as boys to get ahead, is the moral I got from this. This is a pretty good example of how privilege works. Okay, doesn't this sound infuriating!?!? Grace literally does EVERYTHING she possibly can, and it's still only barely good enough to win her the election, and it still came down to a white boy's decision. (Note, Wyoming was either the first state or one of the first states to grant women the right to vote, so this was a pretty cool easter egg for those who know). But in a big upset, he votes for Grace! Yay, a white boy makes a good decision. It comes to the student representing Wyoming to decide whether Grace or the boy wins. Despite all her hard work while white boy has done almost nothing, he's winning by a small amount. He notices that if all the boys vote for him, he'll have enough electoral college votes to win, so why work very hard on winning the election, when he can be doing other stuff? Meanwhile, the white boy does a little campaigning, and then does his normal stuff. She works extra hard on her campaign, and does lots of volunteering so everyone sees she truly cares. So Grace is running against this white boy-the exact type of candidate every president ever has been.

Because these teachers just don't get it, apparently. But who should she run up against? A white boy is chosen. Instead, her teacher decides that this is a great learning opportunity, and she'll set up a mock election with another class. The class laughs at her, but her teacher doesn't. In class Grace notices all the presidents are men, so she decides she wants to be president when she grows up. This is an infuriating little picture book, and let me tell you why I'm saying that instead of 'cute,' like all the other reviews.

Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio