Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents by Marilyn Singer and John Hendrix

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

Bibliography:

Singer, Marilyn, and John Hendrix. Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents. New York: Hyperion Books, 2013. ISBN 9781423171003

Review and Critical Analysis:

Rutherford B., Who Was He? is a book of poetry about forty-three men who have one thing in common: each of them served as president of the United States of America. The poems use rhythm and rhyme to convey the most important facts about each president and their presidential terms. At the end of the book, following the poems, is a section entitled “Meet the President” in which Singer includes a brief summary about what a person must do to become president and what the president’s role is. After that, she includes “Presidential Biographies.” This section includes a brief biography of each of the forty-three presidents, with each one ending with a quote from that president. The final page of the book includes a list of books and websites where Singer found much of her information, and where readers could go for further research.

Each poem is titled with the name of the president, followed by his political party and the dates that he served as president. While the information about political parties is somewhat unnecessary, I found it interesting, and students would likely be inspired to further research former political associations such as Federalist, Whig, and Democratic-Republican. The poems are short - never taking more than a page, and some taking less - but Singer gets straight to the point of the issues or problems each president encountered during his presidency, and this gives readers a great amount of insight into each president. She doesn’t try to make them seem greater than they were, but she portrays them for who they really were in American history. In fact, in the “Rutherford B. Hayes” poem, Singer says, “Rutherfor B., who was he? / Honest and upstanding, or His Fraudulency? / He won a harsh election with disputes and appeals, / (and also quite possibly backroom deals).” In the “William Howard Taft” poem, she portrays him as an unhappy “drudge” who was so overweight that he got stuck in the bathtub. However, for those more upstanding presidents, she portrays them as such. In “James K. Polk” she says, “A powerful president with lots of gall. / Made four promises, kept them all.”

Although Singer’s poems are chock-full of interesting and useful information about our presidents, they are nowhere near dull. Singer uses humor and a mixture of clever rhythm and rhyme to draw readers in and make them want to keep reading. While each poem’s form and style is unique, Singer’s inclusion of rhyme in each poem gives a familiar cadence to the entire book. A couple of the poems are weaved together to portray two or more presidents. Singer writes one poem for Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan, giving them each a voice in the conversation about the Union and state secession. These presidents were America’s leaders from 1849 to 1861, and by combining them into one poem, she shows the great turmoil our country was in for years, leading into the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln’s presidency.

Without the illustrations of John Hendrix, the poems in the book would not come to life nearly the way they do. With each turn of the page, the reader’s eyes are drawn to the president’s caricature and a picture showing how he is about to be portrayed in his poem. The drawings are detailed and many of them include a quote from the president. John Tyler is drawn with a huge forehead, with the poem resting entirely on it alone, and his mouth wide open yelling, “I can never consent to being dictated to!” What a great picture to show how he “strongly rebelled!” John F. Kennedy is drawn on a Television screen, showing that “Vision and television made him a star,” with Lyndon B. Johnson watching him on TV from the opposite page. Hendrix and Singer are the perfect pair for this informative book of poetry for children.

I was surprised by the amount of information I learned by reading this book of poetry about our presidents. I think it would be best read a second time by turning to the “Presidential Biographies” section after each poem and reading the biographical information to go along with each president. This would give the reader a much clearer picture of each president and who he was. This book of poetry would be an excellent tool for teaching and could easily be used in the classroom as students learn about the presidents of the United State of America. It is up to date for now and even includes a poem on our current president, Barack Obama.

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis:

Barack Obama

(Democrat, 2009- )

A country disillusioned,

looking for solutions

to problems created

by financial institutions,

by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Then he told us, “Yes, we can!” -

end the wars and the recession,

offer health care nationwide,

invest in renewable energy sources,

work together to heal the divide.

Now, some say he succeeded.

Some say that he tried.

Others are still angry or dissatisfied.

One thing is certain,

on one thing we agree -

as our first black president,

he indeed made history.

The poem, “Barack Obama,” is typical of the poems in this book. The poem talks about Obama’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as some of the ways he’ll go down in history as our 43rd president.

I would introduce this poem by asking students what they know about our current president. I would ask questions such as, “Who is our current president? What do you know about him? What do you like about him? What don’t you like about him?” I would then display the poem and illustration about Barack Obama and read it out loud. I would discuss with students some of the issues the poem refers to. We would also read together the biographical information about Barack Obama located at the end of the book, and it would further explain and discuss those issues. 
Next, I would lead the class in a discussion about our next president. We would talk about what issues they will face and what qualities are important to have in a president. I would then have students write their own poem about our future president.