Strange Facts About Presidential History

The first thing people might wonder upon glimpsing Grover Cleveland, Again! on a bookshelf is why in the world Ken Burns, the celebrated documentarian who gave us in-depth films such as Baseball and The Civil War, would be writing an illustrated children’s book. The second thing would probably be why in the world it’s titled Grover Cleveland, Again!.
The answer to both questions is contained in Burns’ charming introduction to this beautiful book (illustrated by Gerald Kelley): When his daughters were very young Burns, ever the historian, would get them to sleep by reciting the names of the presidents in order. His kids quickly memorized the list, and it became a game they played at bedtime—he would say the first name, they would supply the last name. When they got to Grover Cleveland’s second term, the kids would shout “Grover Cleveland, again!”

If you’re surprised to find out that Grover Cleveland was both our 22nd and 24th president—the only person to have been elected to two non-consecutive terms, in fact—then this book is perfect for you and your kids—or just you. Because Burns and Kelley have given us a book that kids will find engaging and interesting, and adults will find surprisingly compelling themselves.
Growing Up to be President
Burns also has an ulterior motive in writing this book: he wants to impress upon kids that nothing, really, is stopping them from someday being president themselves. Despite the fact that 43 out of our 44 presidents to date have been white men, Burns looks a little deeper and finds a vast spread among the education, wealth, background, and philosophies of each president and uses this often overlooked diversity to make the point that America remains a country where people can rise from humble or unlikely beginnings to become leader of the country. In an age where we’ve just seen our first black president and might just be on the cusp of electing our first female president, the message really resonates.
A Tiny Education
Most people in the modern age aren’t terribly familiar with past presidents; after all, their decisions, controversies, and performance in office often seems like ancient history that has no bearing on our modern lives. Grover Cleveland, Again! is composed of two-page spreads for each president (two for Cleveland, naturally!) that are wonders of design, offering a wealth of easily absorbed information offering a glimpse of the times, the issues, and the achievements of each president. An official portrait and dense list of stats is accompanied by a gorgeous painting by Kelley depicting an important (or often private) moment from the president’s life or career, coupled with a clear, concise writeup that will give anyone a basic understanding of that president’s place in our shared history.
Even-Handed
Unlike a lot of books aimed at children, Burns doesn’t try to candy-coat history too much. While there’s no room for in-depth analysis, Burns doesn’t exclude negative facts about the presidents; for example, in his writeup of Andrew Jackson, Burns says, “Andrew Jackson did a couple of things in particular that most people think were wrong. First, he strongly supported the institution of slavery.” In his introduction, Burns also writes that “the great stain of slavery” still haunts the nation. He includes just enough of this sort of complexity to keep his overview of the presidents honest—and, more importantly, to spark questions from kids reading or listening to the book.
Gorgeously Illustrated
Gerald Kelley has been one of the top illustrators in the world of commercial art and book illustrations for a long time now, and his lush watercolors are both striking and beautiful. Kelley’s style is simultaneously simple (with implied backgrounds and rough edges) and complex (with a color sensibility and compositional eye that makes each piece pop off the page). The choice of which moment to illustrate for each man is also smart throughout, always a scene that isn’t one of the famous images already associated with that president, making every one a wonderful surprise for both kids and adults.
The Lesson
In the end, Burns succeeds in making his point: while superficially our list of presidents have been similar looking, in reality they’ve been very diverse—in their beliefs, their philosophy of government, and their origins. We’ve had educated presidents and uneducated presidents, rich ones and poor ones, physically frail ones and Teddy Roosevelt, even presidents with learning disabilities. Seeing all those differences spread out in one book like this really does drive it home: in America, any citizen can be president—and that’s a wonderful lesson for kids to learn.