Book description from Amazon:
An inspiring and informative book for kids about the past and future of America's presidents.

Who will be the NEXT president? Could it be you? When George Washington became the first president of the United States, there were nine future presidents already alive in America, doing things like practicing law or studying medicine.

When JFK became the thirty-fifth president, there were 10 future presidents already alive in America, doing things like hosting TV shows and learning the saxophone.

And right now—today!—there are at least 10 future presidents alive in America. They could be playing basketball, like Barack Obama, or helping in the garden, like Dwight D. Eisenhower. They could be solving math problems or reading books. They could be making art—or already making change.

• A breezy, kid-friendly survey of American history and American presidents
• Great for teachers, librarians, and other educators
• Kate Messner's nonfiction picture books have been lauded by critics and received a variety of awards.

For young readers and students who loved The New Big Book of Presidents, Lincoln and Kennedy: A Pair to Compare, and Kid Presidents: True Tales of Childhood from America's Presidents.

A helpful addition to curriculums of 5th- to 8th-grade students studying U.S. History and civics and the federal government.

• For readers ages 8–12
• U.S. history for kids
• Students, librarians, teachers
• 5th–8th-grade kids

From award-winning author Kate Messner and New York Times bestselling artist Adam Rex comes a timely and compelling compendium about the U.S. presidents—before they were presidents.

Kate Messner is an award-winning author whose many books for kids have been selected as Best Books by the New York Times, Junior Library Guild, IndieBound, and Bank Street College of Education. She lives on Lake Champlain with her family.

Adam Rex is the author and illustrator of many beloved picture books and novels, including Nothing Rhymes with Orange and the New York Times bestseller Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. He has worked with the likes of Jon Scieszka, Mac Barnett, Jeff Kinney, and Neil Gaiman. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.
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NOTE: Below-This is shared from
Kate Messner's fb post on September 7, 2020

"In a recent review of The Next President, someone objected to the page that discusses America's first presidents because it includes the fact that most of them enslaved people. I’d like to unpack that idea a bit…

The reviewer suggested that that fact somehow doesn’t belong in a book for kids, that a children’s book about presidents should include only positive things. She seemed concerned that children might read that fact about America’s earliest presidents and judge them for it, for writing about equality while they enslaved people on their own plantations. What if some kids decide that those early presidents were not such great people?

That is a fair concern, because in my experience, children are a lot less forgiving of hypocrisy than adults. They are a lot more likely to say “Hey, wait a minute! That’s not right!” Kids care deeply about injustice, which is one reason I love writing for them.

History is more complicated than a lot of our traditional social studies textbooks make it out to be. It’s full of “heroes” who were critically flawed and also full of “villains” who sometimes did good things.

And you know what’s interesting? America’s earliest presidents knew we’d be talking about this. Their early writings are full of concerns about how history would judge them for being big talkers about equality and justice while they fought to maintain slavery.

Kids, in my experience, are great historians. They’re more willing to sit with discomfort than adults, to consider that someone who led Revolutionary War battles went home at the end of the war to be served by men who were enslaved, and to question that.

At one of the last school visits I did before the pandemic, I was having lunch with some second graders, and one told me how much he loved history, especially the picture book biographies his librarian shared.

So I told him about one of my recent favorites, ONA JUDGE OUTWITS THE WASHINGTONS. “It’s about a woman who was enslaved by George Washington,” I told him. “But she escaped and never got caught!”

“Wait a second… ” The boy looked at me. “George Washington owned slaves?”

“He did,” I said. “He enslaved hundreds of people on his plantation in Virginia.”

The kid looked at me, clearly upset that no one had told him this before. “I thought George Washington was a good guy!”

So we talked about that. “It’s true that Washington is honored for leading the Continental Army and being America’s first president,” I told him, “And it’s also true that he enslaved people, and worked to keep those people enslaved even after he was president.”

The boy nodded. He understood about more than one thing being true. Then he asked his librarian if she’d get that book about Ona Judge. She’d already written it down.

I’m glad he has her as his librarian because these are the tough, honest conversations we should be having with kids. They are amazing thinkers and thoughtful historians. They are fiercely passionate about making a more just world. And they need to know the truth about history so they can get to it.

A little more about the book The Next President, since it’s been a topic of conversation lately. This book looks at where all the presidents were in the years leading up to their presidency from GW to DJT. (There have also been some reviews that say 45 is not included. That’s not true – he’s pictured on p. 33 with Clinton, Bush, and Obama, when he was 15 years old, at military academy. There have also been some reviews that object to the diversity of the people in Adam Rex's illustrations. That is one of my favorite things about the book, and if people object to it, this is for sure not the right book for them.

Anyway – try having an honest conversation with your kids about America’s past. They’re better at these kinds of conversations than many adults are. "