Realistic Fiction Picture Book: Grace for President

Title: Grace for President 

Author: Kelly DiPucchio 

Publication: 2008

One of the first things that caught my eye about this book was the female, African-American protagonist. I am so glad that there are more books now available with a diverse amount of characters in them. Ten years ago, we might not have seen picture books with first-off female leads and second-off diverse raced main characters. Now authors have done a great job of including all different people of different races, cultures, and genders into the characterization of books. I think this is a great idea because more students will be able to connect with these characters and see themselves as that protagonist, for example. Here, a young African-American child could envision herself running for president and being "Grace" because of the characterization of the protagonist in this book.

This book does an AMAZING job of teaching the election process to children through the writing of the book. Grace runs for president against another opponent and the classes do a mock election like the one our country goes through when electing a president. The book discusses the electoral college, how each state has so many representatives, campaign slogans, etc. This informs the reader about the real process of electing the president but makes it fun because you are applying it to Grace and her election. 

Grace decides to run for president because she realizes there have been no girls whatsoever that have been the president of the United Staes. I'm glad the author brings up this problem about our government and gender equality. I would love to discuss this with my classroom and get their opinions on it and brainstorm on how we could maybe change this problem in the future. As the book continues, one can see how gender influences politics. Grace's running mate believes that all the boy voters will vote for him and since there were more boys, he knew he would win. However, one of the boys decided to vote for Grace and therefore Grace won. The book ends with a great understanding for why gender should not affect one's decision on whether or not a girl can do the job as president. Grace asked Thomas, who voted for her, "Why did you do it," he responded, "I thought you were the best person for the job" (DiPucchio). This teaches everyone a great lesson and how we should put gender aside when voting people in for a job.