Book Write Up #3: Picture Book #6

Author: Barack Obama

Title: Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters

Illustrator: Loren Long

Genre: Picture Book

Subgenre: Children's Book

Theme: We are all unique, but we are all Americans!

Primary and secondary characters: Barrack Obama (narrator), and many historical figures.

Date of Publication: 2010

Publishing Company: Alfred A. Knopf

Barack Obama narrates this book to his daughters. This is an inspirational book. In this book he expresses to his daughters have I told you lately how wonderful you are? How you laugh and sunshine spills into the room? He then compares his daughters characteristics to historical figures. Some of these examples are: have I told you lately that you are smart? Then he gives examples. A man named Albert Einstein turned pictures in his mind into giant advances in science, changing the world with energy and light. Have I told you that you are brave? A man named Jackie Robinson played baseball and showed us all how to turn fear into respect and respect to love. He gave brave dreams to all the dreamers. Have I told you lately that you are kind? A woman named Jane Addams fed the poor and helped them find jobs. She opened the doors and gave people hope. Have I told you that you don't give up? A man named Martin Luther King Jr. taught us unyielding compassion. He gave us a dream that all races and creeds would walk hand in hand. He marched and he prayed and, one at a time, opened hearts and saw the birth of his dream in us. Have I told you that America is made up of people of every kind? Barrack Obama keeps on complementing his daughters, by comparing their personal strengths to strengths of historical figures. In the end, he tells his daughters have I told you that I love you?

This is a great book to read to students to teach them about the past of america, and to introduce historical figures that changed America.