Your Presidential Fantasy Dream Team

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.