JFK (Hardcover)  Pre-K+

Once Upon A Time in America, There Was a Man Who Mattered to a Lot of People.  His Name was John F. Kennedy.

So much has been written about our 35^th President of America, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, that to do a review of his life story seems almost moot.  What else can you say?  However, his background and story does interest me for two big reasons and a new children’s book that I thought would be a repeat for me when I read it to my oldest daughter was actually a great way to tell her my – or our– family history.  I know I have written before about my dad’s family history being Irish (more specifically, Scotch-Irish, which apparently has distinction in America starting in the 1840s due to the Irish Famine and Irish immigration at that time) Catholic.  It is a little difficult for me to grasp but at one time the Irish Catholics were not treated very well by mainstream America and my family in particular actually left Ireland at a time where they were trying to escape religious persecution of their faith.

Many of the Scotch-Irish immigrants who didn’t stay close to New York when they arrived in America would head to the mountains of Appalachia where there was cheap but challenging land.  If you read my blog, you will know my family line did not travel far and I grew up in the very same area in South Eastern Ohio.  At one time, my family owned most of the land in a little village in Ohio (we still own a small piece of it) that currently is only a little over 400 acres and around 800 people in population.  As someone who grew up in that area, the last time I visited as an adult I was struck at the very mountainous and dense area that people made home.  While reading the new children’s book called JFK, it really struck me at how a family like mine could come to America and become one of the wealthiest and most influential families in America.  In fact, to date, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy has been the only Catholic President of America!

I do think it is important to note that several American presidents have had Irish lineage (Arthur, Jackson, Reagan, Kennedy, Bush (both) and Obama), but only one was a practicing Catholic.  Why does this matter?  I suppose on some level it matters because it shows that my country can overcome racial and religious stigma.  In fact, did you know that the term ‘hillbilly’ was applied to my descendents with connotations of poverty, backwardness and violence with origins in Scotland and Ireland?  Wow!  Although it is not something I can change, I am proud of my family history (hey, the Scotch-Irish did bring the potato to America!) and reading JFK really drove home how proud I am that JFK was an American President, not only for his family’s history but for his own imprint on America’s history.  To bring it home in a children’s book (that has awesome illustrations, too) was really special to me.

Check it out!  For additional information on JFK and the author check out this link here!

Please Note:  The author does mention that he was in Dallas, TX at the parade during Kennedy’s assassination at the beginning of the book (he was just one year old with his family), so if you read to your child make sure to be prepared to talk about that (or skip if you do not want to discuss)!

Reminder:  President’s Day is right around the corner so be on the look out for more fun book reviews on this topic in the upcoming days!

JFK (Hardcover) Pre-K

www.harperscollinschildrens.com

List Price: $17.99