May 16, 2016
O’Brien revises his 2014 book for adults, How to Fight Presidents, for a younger audience, excising some of that book’s more risqué content while highlighting daring or otherwise remarkable exploits of America’s former Commanders in Chief. Readers are invited to build their own Dream Team of Presidents “to defend the planet or... pull off some kind of grand scheme,” but the book is largely devoted to snarky profiles of deceased presidents from Washington to Reagan. O’Brien takes a no-holds-barred approach to describing each man’s strengths, weaknesses, and reputation: “Andrew Jackson... was a whole lot of things, and all of them were crazy.” Rowntree’s over-the-top illustrations picture ratchet up the humor even more, picturing Ronald Reagan dressed as Wolverine from the X-Men and F.D.R. piloting a battle-ready wheelchair with spikes. Ages 10–up.
April 15, 2016
Borrowing the "dream team" trope from superhero comics, O'Brien invites readers to evaluate each of 39 dead presidents (George Washington through Ronald Reagan, excepting Jimmy Carter) on his merits.Claiming that "every good team needs Brains, Brawn, a Loose Cannon, a Moral Compass, and a Roosevelt," the author first presents his own picks. (His Roosevelt is TR.) Each chapter begins with a crowning epithet, important dates, family information, and a "Fun Fact." Franklin Pierce "Is Handsome but Ultimately Useless"; FDR is "Rolling Thunder." Black-and-white illustrations riff on the superhero and comics motifs. O'Brien's essays are a rambling mix of fact, opinion, and jokey bluster. Andrew Jackson's exploits as a soldier and compulsive duelist crowd out much mention of his actual presidency. Woodrow Wilson, "The Half-Dead President," is cast as highly accomplished but wracked with physical ailments. Post-World War I, as he stumped relentlessly, promoting his unpopular League of Nations idea, "his body started falling apart in a really bizarre way....morphing so that his appearance began to match his inner anger/craziness." O'Brien unequivocally condemns Wilson's racism, claiming of presidents who owned slaves, "Most of those guys were less racist than Wilson."These portraits, while mightily jaundiced by the author's selectivity and perspective, do offer readers a warts-and-all look at two centuries of presidential leadership and politics. (further reading, websites, bibliography, source notes) (Collective biography. 10-13)
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May 1, 2016
Gr 5-8-Using information about each dead president's early life, quirky tidbits from his term, and unabashedly biased character judgments, O'Brien presents his recommendations for a presidential dream team-featuring the key components of brains, brawn, a loose cannon, a moral compass, and a Roosevelt (wild card). A bright, bold, comic book-like cover and Rowntree's illustrations bring the presidents to life, caricaturing them as gangsters, wrestlers, and superheroes. Each presidential section includes a narrative of the man's childhood, rise to power, presidency, and death. The tone is reverential bordering on worshipful. O'Brien manages to avoid any actual discussion of the many unsavory policies and actions of the presidents by either glossing over or ignoring them, offering instead bizarre facts and brash commentary. The treatment of African Americans and Native Americans throughout the text is particularly flippant, as each offending president or policy is often "on the wrong side of history." O'Brien also imagines that Chester A. Arthur killed his wife "for the sake of making this chapter more interesting," a truly harmful lesson (that women can be killed for entertainment) for the intended age group. In the "Conclusion" section, O'Brien discusses why he did not include living presidents and addresses questions students might have after reading this volume.
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