Historical Book Blog

Book Title: The White House

Author: Mary Firestone

Illustrator: Matthew Skeens

Publisher: Picture Window Books

Copyright: 2007

# of Pages: 24

Genre: Historical Fiction

The White House is a book by Mary Firestone that describes what the White House is and how it got started. This is a great short read that includes fun facts about some of the presidents. Throughout the book, Mary describes certain rooms in the White House and how the room got its name. One of the White House’s Secret Service agents takes you through the White House and even explains the history behind the White House. The agent does a great job at explaining that The White House is more than just a place to live. This book provides great information about one of the great American symbols.

Excellent illustrations by Matthew Skeens. The illustration is vibrant and full of color. The illustrations include a lot of texture to them. The illustrations seem to capture children’s attention because they have cartoon features. The flow of the illustrations mimics the story line very well. Each illustration is bold and unique and no two illustrations are identical. Matthew Skeens does a great job at showing the emotion of the characters on the faces causing the reader to feel what they feel.

Content Area and Grade: History. K-2

During this lesson, students have the opportunity to explore the role of the president by navigating the Internet and other resources. Students will learn about the president’s family, advisors, and others who help him to accomplish his role as president.

A teacher can use this as a fun activity that would give extra information about the president and where he/she lives. They can have the students research about the current President and the changes he/she has made to the rooms in the White House. 
         For an ELL student, this would be a great activity to learn about their new country and see who the President is and what he does. The student can also explain to the class if they have a president in their native country and what he/she does for the country.