about the book
George Washington, in the dead of night, did the great deed of crossing the Delaware in the Revolutionary War.
Abraham Lincoln spent five years preserving the Union.
President William Howard Taft got stuck in the presidential bathtub. How? Well, he was a rather great-statured man, if you know what I mean. And how did he get unstuck? That is the real story.
First, Lady Nellie Taft discovers her husband’s plight and, doing her best, calls on the vice president and the cabinet for help. Maybe they can grease the tub with butter? Or if that fails, blow it up with dynamite?
Will Taft get out of the bath alive?
about the author
Though he grew up in California’s farming community, his family did not farm—which led Mac Barnett to a love of books and things that don’t have much to do with farming.
Mac went to Pomona College and got a chance to study with the late writer David Foster Wallace.
Mac gained recognition with his Brixton Brothers series as well as his first picture book, Guess Again!. His book, Extra Yarn, was a 2013 Caldecott Honor winner. He is also a member of the board of directors of the non-profit 826LA, a writing center that helps students with their writing.
Mac is also a time traveler, and has opened a store called the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, with items, curiosities, and resources all time travelers might need, no matter if you’re going into the future or into the past. He lives in Berkeley, California.
Sources:
Author website
Author acceptance speech : Horn Book
Author interview : Art of the Picture Book
Author interview : BookRiot
Author biography : Wikipedia
Also by Mac Barnett:
Leo : A Ghost Story. Chronicle Books. 2015.
The Skunk. Roaring Brook Press. 2015.
Sam & Dave Dig a Hole. Candlewick Press. 2014.
Telephone. Chronicle Books. 2014.
Count the Monkeys. Hyperion Books. 2013.
Chloe and the Lion. Hyperion Press. 2012.
Oh No! Not Again! : (Or How I Built a Time Machine to Save History) (Or at Least My History Grade). Hyperion Press. 2012.
Extra Yarn. Balzer + Bray. 2012.
Mustache! Hyperion Press. 2011.
Oh No! : Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World. Hyperion Press. 2010.
Guess Again! Simon & Schuster. 2009.
Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem. Hyperion Press. 2009.
about the illustrator
Instead of having video games or computers to keep them busy when they were kids, Chris Van Dusen and his brothers would entertain themselves by drawing pictures. For hours, one brother would sketch very realistic animals. Another brother drew detailed war scenes. Chris’s specialty was monsters, robots and aliens.
Despite all of this, however, Chris never thought he would become a writer and illustrator of children’s books! He just enjoyed drawing.
He attended the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth where he finally settled on studying fine arts. After graduating he still didn’t know what to do with his life so he became a waiter. When he got a part-time job at a magazine for teenagers, he began to draw cartoons and illustrations for them…and his real career began!
Chris’s illustrations have appeared in many magazines, including Nickelodeon and Disney Adventures. He writes and illustrates children’s books full-time and lives in a small coastal town in Maine with his wife, Lori, sons Ethan and Tucker, and a yellow lab named Pearl.
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator biography: Our White House
Illustrator biography: Chronicle Books
Also by Chris Van Dusen:
Randy Riley’s Really Big Hit. Candlewick Press. 2012.
If I Built a House. Dial. 2012.
King Hugo’s Huge Ego. Candlewick Press. 2011.
Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee. Chronicle Books. 2010.
The Circus Ship. Candlewick Press. 2009.
If I Built a Car. Dutton. 2005.
A Camping Spree With Mr. Magee. Chronicle Books. 2003.
read more!
Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett
One day, little Chloe gets lost in a forest and is attacked by a great big—dragon? But the title says Chloe and the Lion. It turns out that the book’s author and illustrator don’t agree which would be cooler—a dragon or a lion—so Adam just drew a dragon anyway. They fight while Chloe looks on, still lost in the woods. She might become the hero of her own story!
First Mothers by Beverly Gherman
You may know the names and accomplishments of some of the presidents of the United States of America—but do you know their mothers? If you don’t, then this book will educate you. Learn about Mary Ball Washington; Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who insisted her son, Abe, attended school; Richard Nixon’s mother, who baked fifty pies a day; and many more!
The President’s Stuck in the Bathtub : Poems about the Presidents by Susan Katz
The title comes from William Taft, who did indeed get stuck in a White House bath tub—but Taft is not the only embarrassing or interesting president in U.S. history. For example, there is a poem about Leslie Lynch King, who (understandably) changed his name to Gerald Ford. And old John Quincy Adams? He skinny-dipped in the Potomac!