What is it with world leaders and their need to write children’s books? First there was our Kevin Rudd with Jasper and Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle and now US President Barack Obama is penning his own book for littlies.
Of Thee I Sing is Obama’s first foray into children’s fiction and, according to the New York Daily News, he’s enlisted illustrator Loren Long known for her work on Madonna’s childrens book, and The Little Engine That Could. Publisher Random House call the book a “tender, beautiful letter to his daughters” that celebrates the lives of great Americans from George Washington to Georgia O'Keeffe via Jackie Robinson. Proceeds from the 500,000 copies of the book’s first print run will be donated to scholarships for the children of fallen and disabled US soldiers.
Released in November the book seems primed for a Christmas sales bonanza, but as this is just two weeks after the US midterm elections Obama may cop flak for putting publishing before politics. The book may prove to be an omen just as Jasper and Abby’s attempts to prevent disaster in Kiribilli House were for Kevin Rudd.