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A Kids' Guide to America's First Ladies: The Women, History, and Legacies of the White House for Children (Ages 8-12)
Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award-winner Kathleen Krull is an expert at bringing history to life in her engaging titles and series, including Women Who Broke the Rules, Lives of . . . , Giants of Science, and A Kid’s Guide to America’s Bill of Rights . This time, she introduces readers to the women of the White House in A Kid’s Guide to America’s First Ladies ! The book includes a section introducing kids to Melania Trump. Find out what our country’s First Ladies thought, did, and advocated for as they moved into the White House. Packed with anecdotes and sidebars, a timeline of the advancement of women’s rights, and humorous illustrations and portraits, Kathleen Krull’s introduction to the First Ladies of the United States brings vividly to life the women to hold the role as they paved the way for American women in times of change.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 3, 2017
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475 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
September 17, 2016
It's not often that I rate a book with a "no" but I am going to do so concerning the A Kid's Guide to America's First Ladies. The reason being is the book should have been more focussed either to a younger reading audience or an older one. Instead the book tries to reach out to readers between the ages of 8 to 12 or grades 3 to 7. Perhaps older readers could understand and comprehend how First Ladies dealt with extramarital affairs but a child in second grade is not ready to read such information at least not without parental guidance.
For example the author writes about the affair President William Clinton had and how it affected Hillary. Several other First Ladies are mentioned when it comes to their husbands having affairs. As I wrote this is probably is not appropriate for younger readers and that's being kind.
A Kid's Guide to America's First Ladies would have been a better book if it had focussed on the positive attributes of the First Ladies and their families. I truly believe children should read the positive non-fiction as they will soon grow up and learn about the adult world. It would be nice if we could give young readers a chance to have a childhood.
Review written after downloading a galley from Edelweiss.
For example the author writes about the affair President William Clinton had and how it affected Hillary. Several other First Ladies are mentioned when it comes to their husbands having affairs. As I wrote this is probably is not appropriate for younger readers and that's being kind.
A Kid's Guide to America's First Ladies would have been a better book if it had focussed on the positive attributes of the First Ladies and their families. I truly believe children should read the positive non-fiction as they will soon grow up and learn about the adult world. It would be nice if we could give young readers a chance to have a childhood.
Review written after downloading a galley from Edelweiss.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2017
Ultimate Reading Challenge 2017. A book with pictures.
On page 184, the author says "she [Betty Ford] was caught off guard when Richard Nixon selected Jerry [Gerald Ford] as his running mate, and then even more startled when Jerry became president upon Nixon's humiliating resignation". There are a great many of us still alive who REMEMBER that Richard Nixon's running mate and vice-president was SPIRO AGNEW! It was after Agnew was forced to resign that Gerald Ford was selected as vice-president. IF you are going to write a non-fiction book about history PLEASE get the basic facts right! We have enough people already who don't know basic facts about history. We don't need to feed them WRONG information. Such a basic mistake makes me question everything else in the book.
The grammar in this book is deplorable! Did it even have an editor?
There is a very obvious bias in this book. I prefer we present FACTS not bias. Though the author mentions that Hillary Clinton was part of the investigation into Watergate, she fails to mention that Hillary was FIRED from that job for unethical behavior. It also fails to mention that she lost the 2016 election for president though it does name Melania Trump as the most recent first lady. This and other comments about certain other first ladies present so much bias that once again I have to question the entire book.
On page 184, the author says "she [Betty Ford] was caught off guard when Richard Nixon selected Jerry [Gerald Ford] as his running mate, and then even more startled when Jerry became president upon Nixon's humiliating resignation". There are a great many of us still alive who REMEMBER that Richard Nixon's running mate and vice-president was SPIRO AGNEW! It was after Agnew was forced to resign that Gerald Ford was selected as vice-president. IF you are going to write a non-fiction book about history PLEASE get the basic facts right! We have enough people already who don't know basic facts about history. We don't need to feed them WRONG information. Such a basic mistake makes me question everything else in the book.
The grammar in this book is deplorable! Did it even have an editor?
There is a very obvious bias in this book. I prefer we present FACTS not bias. Though the author mentions that Hillary Clinton was part of the investigation into Watergate, she fails to mention that Hillary was FIRED from that job for unethical behavior. It also fails to mention that she lost the 2016 election for president though it does name Melania Trump as the most recent first lady. This and other comments about certain other first ladies present so much bias that once again I have to question the entire book.
July 24, 2017
So, I'm seeing two major criticisms of this book in other reviews. One is that the content isn't always appropriate for the age it's intended for (such as mentioning the presidents' affairs and how the First Ladies reacted to them). The other is that the author shows a bias.
The first isn't relevant to me. I read this book as an adult preparing for Jeopardy who just wanted to know a bit about each lady and help myself reinforce the order of the presidents and for that I think this book was a great help. There were a few facts I had heard before but repetition is never a bad thing if you want something to become part of your permanent memory.
I thought the criticism about bias was interesting because my initial comment was going to be that it was surprisingly unbiased. For example, in the chapter about Laura Bush, she describes that Laura supported her husband's No Child Left Behind act, without commenting on how terrible of an idea that was. She also seems tolerant of the way that some of the women were products of their time. I'm not saying there is no bias whatsoever, just that the activism was in general presented factually and without comment.
In each chapter, there are also milestones for women that happened during that time period. I appreciated Krull's including diverse milestones such as the first female American Indian Chief. There were also shocking ones like the first marital rape law not being enacted until the 1970s (I guess this could also fall under the umbrella of questionable age-appropriateness).
As I said before, I am reviewing this as an adult who read this for a very specific purpose, not as a parent or as a librarian looking to add this to a collection. I found the information and presentation useful for my needs.
The first isn't relevant to me. I read this book as an adult preparing for Jeopardy who just wanted to know a bit about each lady and help myself reinforce the order of the presidents and for that I think this book was a great help. There were a few facts I had heard before but repetition is never a bad thing if you want something to become part of your permanent memory.
I thought the criticism about bias was interesting because my initial comment was going to be that it was surprisingly unbiased. For example, in the chapter about Laura Bush, she describes that Laura supported her husband's No Child Left Behind act, without commenting on how terrible of an idea that was. She also seems tolerant of the way that some of the women were products of their time. I'm not saying there is no bias whatsoever, just that the activism was in general presented factually and without comment.
In each chapter, there are also milestones for women that happened during that time period. I appreciated Krull's including diverse milestones such as the first female American Indian Chief. There were also shocking ones like the first marital rape law not being enacted until the 1970s (I guess this could also fall under the umbrella of questionable age-appropriateness).
As I said before, I am reviewing this as an adult who read this for a very specific purpose, not as a parent or as a librarian looking to add this to a collection. I found the information and presentation useful for my needs.
October 4, 2024
Read for the 2024 library challenge - but I actually really enjoyed it & learned a ton!!
April 1, 2017
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. I thought this will be a great nonfiction addition to any middle school or high school library. As far as elementary schools go, however, I wouldn't recommend it. A lot of anecdotes are a bit above age appropriate narrative for 11 and under.
April 11, 2017
This reads much more like a junior edition of People magazine than a non-fiction biographical anthology. To be fair, it most certainly had me intrigued. I did learn a lot. But, I'm not sure I trust the accuracy of the information contained in this collection of tales of the forty-five women who have held the title of First Lady.
Any author researching a subject is going to need to pick and choose which details to include in her writing. However, much of the text amounts to little more than hearsay (for instance, how the ladies reportedly treated White House staff) and an awful lot of the tidbits were indeed juicy gossip. At times I thought, "Kathleen Krull, your bias is showing!" The amount of coverage is far from equal. Again, perfectly understandable as some of the women played a more important role is shaping our country than others. Yet, the relatively small amount of time spent on people like Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush versus Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama seemed unfair, in my, also biased opinion. Included in the book are quotes as well as "historic" moments in women's rights. But I took issue with the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision being shown in a positive light. Hardly seems comparative to Rosa Parks brave bus ride stance.
Additionally, the targeted audience is students in grades three though seven. But the frequent inclusion of the presidents' affairs hardly seems appropriate for this age. I certainly wouldn't want to explain that to an eight-year-old. As others have mentioned, the writing is pretty atrocious, particularly the introductory lines to each chapter. Overall, I could see this being used as jumping off point for further research, perhaps as a way to help children decide which First Ladies they would like to further explore (but, then again, the problem of inappropriate details rears its ugly head.) One parting tidbit: Apparently Dolley Madison's favorite flavor of ice cream to serve White House guests was oyster. Cannot say I'm sorry I wasn't on her invitation list!
Any author researching a subject is going to need to pick and choose which details to include in her writing. However, much of the text amounts to little more than hearsay (for instance, how the ladies reportedly treated White House staff) and an awful lot of the tidbits were indeed juicy gossip. At times I thought, "Kathleen Krull, your bias is showing!" The amount of coverage is far from equal. Again, perfectly understandable as some of the women played a more important role is shaping our country than others. Yet, the relatively small amount of time spent on people like Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush versus Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama seemed unfair, in my, also biased opinion. Included in the book are quotes as well as "historic" moments in women's rights. But I took issue with the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision being shown in a positive light. Hardly seems comparative to Rosa Parks brave bus ride stance.
Additionally, the targeted audience is students in grades three though seven. But the frequent inclusion of the presidents' affairs hardly seems appropriate for this age. I certainly wouldn't want to explain that to an eight-year-old. As others have mentioned, the writing is pretty atrocious, particularly the introductory lines to each chapter. Overall, I could see this being used as jumping off point for further research, perhaps as a way to help children decide which First Ladies they would like to further explore (but, then again, the problem of inappropriate details rears its ugly head.) One parting tidbit: Apparently Dolley Madison's favorite flavor of ice cream to serve White House guests was oyster. Cannot say I'm sorry I wasn't on her invitation list!
March 23, 2017
This is, I believe, a second edition, updated to include Melania. However, the proofreaders missed a place that needed updating: they list Louisa Adams as being the only First Lady to be foreign born, even though the section under Melania notes that she was one of only two First ladies to be born outside the United States. The biographies are a mixture of individual chapters and chapters that cover a number of First Ladies at once. All the more recent First Ladies, from Hilary Clinton on, got their own individual chapters, even if the last one was necessarily short. This was told from a feminist point of view, which doesn't surprise me with this author (local to San Diego, I've met her briefly). While probably completely inadequate for a report on a specific First Lady, particularly one that got lumped into one of the collective chapters, it is an excellent beginning point. There were interesting things thrown in such as the fact that Michelle and Barack met when she was his boss at a law firm or that the two of them had just finished paying off student loan fees when they entered the White House.
Recommended as an interesting introduction to our First Ladies.
Recommended as an interesting introduction to our First Ladies.
January 16, 2021
With a few pages of overview on each of the 40 First Ladies, this book was fascinating. There are definitely a few of them I'd love to read whole books on now. I felt the information was presented fairly and without bias. I know it says a kids' guide, but with mentions of infidelity from so many of our presidents and other topics, I would put it at middle school level, and I learn a lot from it as an adult.
November 10, 2016
Featured in "Historical Nonfiction Books for Young Readers" on Intellectual Recreation.
This encyclopedia of America's First Ladies is absolutely charming. In the introduction Kathleen Krull grabbed my attention, and she never lost it.
Krull advances chronologically and gives a brief biography of all the First Ladies. I think she handled both the positive and less-positive aspects of each woman's life quite well and in an appropriate way for young readers. The result is that the reader gets a good picture of the various personalities and challenges each woman faced. A timely book, for certain and one that I would have loved when I was young.
Although, I can't help but think that the concluding chapter (left unfinished in my early copy) would have been more exciting if Hillary Clinton had won the election.
A Kids' Guide to America's First Ladies is out January 3, 2017.
Review copy from Edelweiss.
May 19, 2019
Good for Adults Too!
This book was excellent, not too much detail but educational and entertaining. Most happy I took the time to read it.
This book was excellent, not too much detail but educational and entertaining. Most happy I took the time to read it.
July 6, 2019
I'm an adult -- so not the target audience, but I wanted a quick, interesting review of first ladies. Kathleen Krull always does a great job with this type of non-fiction, so I got this. it's good. Very chatty, informal style. Interesting side-bars to tell what early first ladies thought/did about slavery, what all thought/did about women's rights, milestones in women's rights while each was first lady. Not too long. Not too ponderous. A good book. But it could have been better. The groupings were sometimes odd -- "Pretty in Pink?" The section for each first lady was introduced with an illustration -- but it wasn't a clear title. And the illustrations, black & white line drawings, were not a plus. They didn't really look like their subjects, and the settings were sometimes a strange choice. Krull has been better served by other illustrators. One more thing. A few grammar choices, although informal and perhaps good for kids, grated on this adult. Still -- recommended for a breezy review of the subject
November 20, 2022
I picked up this book when I took my daughter to the library. I wanted a book about the First Ladies in order to learn more about each and decide which piqued my interest enough to read full-on biographies about.
I found the mini biographies to be interesting. I learned many new facts I didn’t know beforehand. I did make a list of First Ladies I intend to read more about. This book helped me see which First Ladies had similar views as myself, which was interesting.
The reason I took off a star is because this book had, in my opinion, inappropriate subject matter for the intended audience. Presidential affairs were mentioned for several presidents. Also, the topic of abortion was briefly talked about in one or two places. I felt like a book for this age group should not include those particular topics.
Other than that, I enjoyed this book and would read more non fiction books by this author.
I found the mini biographies to be interesting. I learned many new facts I didn’t know beforehand. I did make a list of First Ladies I intend to read more about. This book helped me see which First Ladies had similar views as myself, which was interesting.
The reason I took off a star is because this book had, in my opinion, inappropriate subject matter for the intended audience. Presidential affairs were mentioned for several presidents. Also, the topic of abortion was briefly talked about in one or two places. I felt like a book for this age group should not include those particular topics.
Other than that, I enjoyed this book and would read more non fiction books by this author.
March 4, 2017
While preparing to teach a unit on American Presidents, I ordered from the library some kids' books about first ladies for my students. This book was for older students than mine, but I hesitated before returning it to the library because I realized that I know almost nothing about first ladies. I really enjoyed this book, and felt that I learned so much! The anecdotes were engaging and fascinating. There was a lot of awkward wording that took away from the book, though. I also wished for reproductions of actual portraits or images attributed to the women. Aside from that, I thought this was a great introduction, and it certainly made me want to learn more. What a compelling group of people! I also enjoyed the "Women Break Through" facts throughout.
February 7, 2017
Author Kathleen Krull takes readers on a delightful stroll through the history of America's first ladies, starting with Martha Washington and ending with Melania Trump. She makes what could otherwise be a drab and droll laundry list of facts and figures into a fun-to-read compilation about this interesting and varied group of women.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
July 3, 2019
I thought it was interesting to learn about all of the US first ladies. I had never known them all before, but I had fun trying to match them with their presidents (I know last names but not first names). On some of the women, I felt like there was a little bit of bias.
May 18, 2022
Picked this up after watching the Smithsonian special on First Ladies. This gave a really nice overview (succinct but still filled with important details) about the lives of our many First Ladies. Written well for kids, but easy to enjoy as an adult also.
March 13, 2025
I read this with my granddaughter for International Women's Month. We both liked it. It is well written & formatted. It had just the right amount of information to keep her engaged & was interesting. I enjoyed learning some new things about our First Ladies, as well.
November 5, 2017
if you really like history I would recommend it.
September 22, 2020
It was cool
March 19, 2024
Very good
March 11, 2017
i really enjoyed reading about the spouses of all our presidents. i would have given it 5 stars but I'm not sure if the age level is appropriate for some of the tales. And there's the goof up about how Ford became VP. Since history outs not much strongest subject, I can't promise there are no other errors.
December 24, 2020
The ratings appear average on this one, but I found this book to be a great, quick summary of First Ladies' lives. I do think it glossed over a lot of the maybe not-so-nice sides of their lives, but with it being a kids book, I didn't mark any stars off for that. I thought this was a great story though of the women whose lives are often overshadowed by their husband's.
February 8, 2017
Krull, Kathleen A Kid's Guide to America’s First Ladies, 238 pgs. HarperCollins, 2017. $16.99 Content: G.
This book has 2-3 page biographies on the United States forty First Ladies. Throughout the book there are interesting facts about the time the ladies were in the White House as well as big events that they helped their President husband’s face. Each chapter has a bit of backstory and the social issues that the ladies cared about.
I thought it was fun to read about all the First Ladies in chronological order and some of the facts were gossipy and interesting, but I had a hard time with the judgmental tone of the author. I wanted to like this book but it felt like Krull wasn’t presenting just the facts, she was interpreting history with a biased take. It just rubbed me wrong.
MS, HS – OPTIONAL. Reviewer, C. Peterson.
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017/...
This book has 2-3 page biographies on the United States forty First Ladies. Throughout the book there are interesting facts about the time the ladies were in the White House as well as big events that they helped their President husband’s face. Each chapter has a bit of backstory and the social issues that the ladies cared about.
I thought it was fun to read about all the First Ladies in chronological order and some of the facts were gossipy and interesting, but I had a hard time with the judgmental tone of the author. I wanted to like this book but it felt like Krull wasn’t presenting just the facts, she was interpreting history with a biased take. It just rubbed me wrong.
MS, HS – OPTIONAL. Reviewer, C. Peterson.
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017/...
March 22, 2017
Note: There is an error on page 184 where the author states "Richard Nixon selected Jerry as his running mate". This is incorrect; Nixon selected Ford as his Vice-President AFTER Spiro Agnew resigned. Otherwise this is a highly readable look at all of the first ladies starting the first to the current. There is something interesting to be learned about each woman. We learn about their personalities, interests, priorities and how they approached the role of being FLOTUS. Some were quite involved in their husbands' presidencies and others preferred to stay in the background as much as possible. Reading about these women is inspiring and motivating for girls. While reading about the first ladies readers will also gain some insight into their husbands, the presidents of the United States. There are black and white drawings of each first lady. The book includes a table of contents, index, and a source list. The author also directs readers to the website for the National First Ladies' Library for additional information. A solid choice for readers in grades 3 - 7.
February 7, 2017
This book had interesting tidbits about all of the First Ladies, but I had a hard time with the author's judgmental comments. Lines like this: "Was there ever a more miserable First Lady than Louisa Adams?" were off-putting. Some First Ladies had more documented about them and so it's hard to compare them to each other. When learning about historical figures it's also important to take into account the time period and we shouldn't judge the women who were trying to serve our nation if they weren't more feminist or didn't make a bigger social statement. Also, Krull's political leanings were evident. Overall, it was interesting and it was fun to read about the First Ladies in chronological order, taking a trip through our countries history and learning about the not very well known as well as the famous FL. Also reviewed on Kiss the Book blog
December 31, 2017
i really wanted to like this, and i hoped for more. but this was oddly formatted and awkwardly worded in places. the illustrations are a bit creepy, and the whole book overall seems negatively biased at times.
February 22, 2017
What a fantastic book! I could hardly put it down. Though the title refers to the book as "A Kids' Guide...." I think that people of all ages will enjoy it. Well organized with an excellent index for students' research, it also proves to be a great read. I learned so much about the First Ladies of our country. Well done, Kathleen Krull!
February 21, 2017
I enjoyed reading her take on the First Ladies. She provides an honest look at the First Ladies and their husbands. One of the first to include Melania Trump though not much of substance was shared as would be expected at this point in time.
Though I marked this for middle grades, I would not use it with the younger readers.
Though I marked this for middle grades, I would not use it with the younger readers.
December 28, 2016
Good broad overview of all the first ladies. Gets a little redundant but it shows their connections, also provides connections to women's history, which shows a bias here but a needed one. Has some vivid truths about the Presidents and First Ladies.
January 19, 2017
A great introduction to all the first ladies.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews