Harry S. Truman

Children's Literature

This entry in the well-written "Our Presidents" series provides an overview of Harry S. Truman's life, including his early years in Missouri, his rise to political life and important aspects of his presidency, including his beginnings when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan and returning to a peacetime economy. A variety of photographs show his family, early career and official government activities. Other outtake pages include information about Truman's rehabilitation of the White House, and a separate section about the very private Bess Truman. Sidebars include interesting facts and the picture captions are informative and lengthy enough to inform casual browsers. Each book in the series ends with a glossary defining highlighted words in the text, a timeline specific to the president's life, a complete table of presidents through George W. Bush with their home states, life spans, presidential spans, political party and the name of their first ladies. Included are a page of "Presidential Facts" and numerous web sites and relevant suggested other resources, as well as an index. All in all, it's a strong, informative and very readable contribution to the literature about presidents for upper elementary and middle school readers. 2002, The Child's World, $27.07. Ages 10 to 14. Reviewer: Susan Hepler

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-Superficial looks at Truman, Nixon, and Carter. Using the same format throughout, the books open with material about each subject's early life and then discuss his political career and rise to the presidency. They briefly cover the main events of each man's administration and post-White House years, before concluding with a short analysis of how the individual and his years in office are viewed by the public and historians. Each book also includes several one-page sidebars about important people and events, as well as comments and quotes in the margins. The authors are objective, mentioning each man's strengths and weaknesses, including coverage of Watergate and Nixon's resignation. The books are attractive, with numerous black-and-white and full-color photos. However, that attractiveness is overshadowed by the extreme brevity. Each volume has only 37 pages of large-print narrative, most with photos, and the balance of the pages is used for a time line, glossary, listing of all presidents, and bibliography. As a result, these titles offer little more information and analysis than that found in an average encyclopedia entry. Most libraries would be better served by titles from the "Encyclopedia of Presidents" series (Children's), which offers a much more comprehensive look at each leader, his political career and presidential administration, and his legacy.-Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.