cover image What Does the President Look Like?

What Does the President Look Like?

Jane Hampton Cook, illus. by Adam Ziskie, EDC/Kane Miller, $16.99 (36p) ISBN 978-1-935279-63-1

"Before YouTube, television, and cameras, how did people know what the president looked like?" From portraiture and political cartoons to the advent of photography and film, Cook explores how public perception of the presidents was shaped by the technologies available. Time lines and sidebars highlight intersections of the political and the technological ("1924—Calvin Coolidge becomes the first president featured in a campaign newsreel at the movies"). For a book so focused on visual representation, debut talent Ziskie's pale, long-limbed, and slightly trippy artwork is an unusual but intriguing choice, and he captures the eras of Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, Kennedy, and Obama with equal ease. Ages 5–9. (Feb.)