Vote for Me!

by Ben Clanton

Overview

A hilarious political satire by the creator of the bestselling Narwhal and Jelly series.

Hey, you! Yes, you with the dazzling smile! The donkey wants your vote. So does the elephant. And each will do just about anything to win your support. Brag? Sure! Flatter? Absolutely! Exaggerate, name-call, make silly promises and generally act childish? Yes, yes, yes and yes. Soon, the tension mounts, and these two quarrelsome candidates resort to slinging mud (literally) and flinging insults. And what happens when the election results are in? Well, let's just say the donkey and the elephant are in for a little surprise—and a certain bewhiskered, third-party candidate is in for a first term!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735267589
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	234,434
Product dimensions:	8.38(w) x 10.25(h) x 0.44(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

BEN CLANTON is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the Narwhal and Jelly series, whose picture books include Mo's Mustache; Vote for Me!; Rot, the Cutest in the World!; Boo Who?; It Came in the Mail; Something Extraordinary and Rex Wrecks It!. He lives with his wife and kids in Seattle, Washington.

Editorial Reviews

Filled with adorable illustrations, this picture book will help children related to politics and see that calling other people names won’t ever help you win.” —Resource Links

"Good for adults and children alike, and a perfect discussion starter, Vote for Me! would make a great addition to any collection.” —Canadian Review of Materials

From the Publisher

01/01/2020

Gr 1–3—This bipartisan picture book by the author and illustrator of the popular "Narwhal and Jelly" series pokes fun of political campaigning. Donkey and Elephant both want the readers' votes and will do anything to get them. "Do you like CANDY? Because…if you vote for ME, I'll give you a sucker!" "You ARE a SUCKER if you vote for HIM." Flattery, arrogance, bribery, nepotism, mudslinging, and name-calling leave both candidates feeling hurt and regretful. In the end, they apologize and eagerly await the election results together. Imagine their surprise when the Independent Mouse steals the election. "I would like to thank the millions of mice who voted for me to become the Big Cheese." With a nod to Mo Willems's "Elephant & Piggie" books, color coding and large speech bubbles are utilized. Donkey sports a light blue background and bow tie while Elephant appears on a bright red background with a long red tie. After the two major candidates make up, they appear together on two lavender spreads. The victorious independent party is represented by yellow with straw hats, balloons, and of course, cheese. In the end, indignant Elephant demands a recount, and he and Donkey resume their arguing over which of the two was the obvious "BEST CHOICE." VERDICT This lighthearted look at an often serious, divisive subject will leave children and adults laughing and possibly questioning the election process itself.—Barbara Auerbach, Cairo Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

It’s a big election year, and Elephant and Donkey are pandering for votes. “Hey you! Yes, you with the great hair and that dazzling smile,” says Donkey. “f you pick me, I’ll give you peanuts!” promises Elephant. But it doesn’t take long for the candidates to forget about the voters and turn on each other (“Elephants don’t stink!” “Well, you certainly do, you big, stinky pooper scooper”), resulting in both figurative and literal mudslinging. Unlike some grown-up candidates, Elephant and Donkey repair their friendship—just in time to realize that the voters have already moved on. First-time author Clanton renders his battling duo in the pencil-like grays and blacks of classic editorial cartoons (Donkey almost always appears on the left against a blue background, while Elephant is on the right against red). Even readers unfamiliar with the political process will understand the demands being made on their loyalty. For children getting their first taste of presidential politics in 2012, this is a worthwhile testimony to the current state of political discourse. Ages 4–8. Agent: Marietta Zacker, Nancy Gallt Literary Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

What does it say that the nature and quality of our national political debate should be so baldly captured in a book for 4-year-olds? Newcomer Clanton's candidates are a donkey and an elephant, economically if emotively drawn on fields of blue and red. Yes, we know who these characters are, even more so when they start to address the reader, aka the potential voter. First come the soft sell, the loopy promises and idle boasts--"Do you like CANDY?" "I'm a SUPER CUTE elephant!"--then come the ad hominem attacks: "Well, you certainly do, you big, STINKY pooper scooper," or, drawing from Spiro Agnew's playbook, "belching beast of burden." Finally, they sling enough mud that the electorate takes its business elsewhere. It is a painful point well made, that these candidates are laughable when not plain embarrassing. But even if the name-calling has a measure of low humor at first, it soon pales--something that Clanton's book threatens to do before its neat twist--in direct proportion to its sustenance on either the entertainment or intellectual front, as any 4-year-old will tell you. Read it with Eileen Christelow's splendid Vote! (2003) if you want that 4-year-old to actually learn anything, though. An ever-timely message, told in (two) primary colors. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews

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