Generally I'm not crazy about big, heavy books, but today is an exception. "Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out" is an unexpected treasure. It looks like a cross between a coffee-table book and a textbook. It's neither.
"House" bursts with lively stories and illustrations by more than 100 of our nation's top writers and artists. Its mix of fiction and nonfiction is as diverse as we are. From immigrants to slaves and presidents to children, the book's characters dance through the history of our nation's home. Their stories are made for reading aloud and family sharing. They make a perfect walk up to the inauguration next Tuesday.
The first peek at the volume's people and events emerges in a spirited introduction by historian David McCullough. There are presidents, their wives, staff and visitors (including a prairie dog) who cope with events joyful and sad, funny and serious. Their stories, real and imagined, overflow these pages in prose, poems and comics as well as a few pivotal speeches and documents. They reflect what makes us Americans.
Works in "House" appear in chronological order, but curious readers will want to jump about to whatever tweaks their interest. Boys who turn to Margaret W. Davol's "Andy and Me" will howl at Davy Crockett's colorful backwoods language ("as low as a toad's toes") in Crockett's imagined description of his childhood pal, President Andrew "Andy" Jackson. Girls will snuggle up for Patricia MacLachlan's heartwarming tale "Hands," a story about a girl who inadvertently meets her mother's hero, Eleanor Roosevelt.
Several essays are pure illustration, like David Small's "Backstairs at the White House." Small calls it "A More or Less on-the-Spot Journal" and shows florists busy in a greenhouse and guards on duty at the front gate and in the basement hallway.
If anything could make "House" better, it would be more artwork to break up some of the type-dense pages.
This anthology, conceived by the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, oozes soul and goodness without being goody-goody. Its contributors donated their talent, and royalties go to the Alliance, a nonprofit group dedicated to literacy.Serious students of history will appreciate the biographical notes and acknowledgements. Candlewick has established a companion Web site at www.ourwhitehouse.org.
"Little Beauty"
Anthony Browne
Candlewick, $17, 32 pages, ages 3-5
Anthony Browne's "Little Beauty" is a gift to parents (and grandparents) of preschoolers. It's perfect. It's a sweet story of a lonely gorilla who finds a best friend in a kitten given to him by his zookeepers. Browne's bold artwork dramatizes every twist of tale and flash of humor. A rare find for the wee set.
Judy Green can be reached at jgreen@sacbee.com.
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