Review: Babymouse for President by Jennifer & Matthew Holm

To contact us Click HERE
Babymouse for President. by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm. July 10, 2012. Random House. 96 pages. ISBN: 9780375967801

Disgusted by the school lunches, Babymouse decides to run for president of the student council. The competition is fierce - Santiago, Felicia, Georgie, and even Babymouse’s locker have also entered the race, and their platforms, promises, and campaign posters are pretty impressive. Desperate to win votes, Babymouse starts promising anything and everything to anyone who asks - including her soul. It’s not until she enters the school debate that she realizes what it truly takes to be a successful leader.

As with the other titles in the series, the key to the success of this Babymouse story is not the plot itself, which is rather generic, but the way the story is drawn and told. Some of the jokes this time around are obvious - Babymouse’s face on a five dollar bill, the Babymouse Memorial, and renaming the White House as the Pink House - but others - such as the take-off on the Obama “Hope” poster pictured below, and her Hoover-esque campaign slogan, “A cupcake in every locker” are subtle and clever.

This book is sure to be hugely popular because all Babymouse books usually are, but what’s nice about this particular volume is that it gives kids a nice gateway into learning about the election. If kids took the time to learn just the sources of the allusions in this book, they would already know a lot of things about the American presidency, and hopefully, these simple facts would inspire them to seek even more knowledge. I also like the ending, which is, as Babymouse would say, typical, but also true to what often happens in real life.

I plan to use this book and a few other election-themed children’s stories for a passive program at my library later in the Fall. I’ll be asking kids to vote for the fictional character they think would make the best president, whether it’s Duck, Bad Kitty, Grace or Babymouse herself!

I borrowed Babymouse for President from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.