Yes We Can: A Biography of President Barack Obama

by Garen Thomas

Overview

The great American leader uses his voice to change history, alter politics, and bring hope of a brighter future to generations to come.

Born in the U.S.A., the son of an African father and an American mother, a boy who spent his childhood in Indonesia and Hawaii, Barack Obama is truly a citizen of the world. In kindergarten, he wrote an essay titled, "I Want to Become President," and now, with his fierce optimism, exuberant sense of purpose and determination, and above all, his belief that change can happen, Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, has made that dream come true.

In Yes We Can, Garen Thomas takes us through the life of Barack Obama, from his struggle to fit in with his classmates, and concern about not knowing his biological father, through his term as an Illinois senator, and the long campaign for president, to his historic victory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312586393
Publisher:	Feiwel & Friends
Publication date:	12/12/2008
Edition description:	Second Edition, Revised
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1200L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

GAREN THOMAS worked as an editor in children's book publishing for many years and is the author of Santa's Kwanzaa. She edited many notable children's books, including the Caldecott Honor Book Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson; Kadir Nelson's We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball; and the Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue, by Julius Lester. She continues to act as a consultant and children's books editor on a freelance basis while working on her own writing and film projects. She holds an A.B. from Harvard University and is getting her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Editorial Reviews

This Obama-friendly biography was first published in June and has been updated with 32 additional pages on his historic campaign and election...it's a useful, clearly written summary of an amazing story, both personally and politically. Garen Thomas, a children's book editor and author has done an admirable job…” —USA Today

“A smoothly written account of the candidate's life.” —People Magazine

“Thomas's clear prose will help students learn more about the first African American to gain a major party nomination for the presidency.” —School Library Journal

“[An] adulatory profile of the presidential candidate's meteoric rise.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

Gr 6–9—An update of a book published in 2008, with a new final chapter reflecting events since then. Thomas clearly chronicles his subject's experiences with his grandparents, parents, and the cultures in which he grew up. Much is made of the stories about his absent father. The author portrays the sole meeting between Barack (at age 10) and his dad vividly, leaving readers with an understanding of this young man's confusion about his heritage and place in society. Thomas then recounts Obama's schooling, his eventual contact and involvement with black contemporaries, and their ideas. His exposure to prejudice takes all forms, including neglect from fellow Kenyans while he visited there. The last six chapters succinctly trace his rise to the presidency. Readers are left with little doubt that Obama believes in the possibility of change—in the possibility of looking at the world through the eyes of humanity, not "different colors of humanity." The volume concludes with a map depicting Obama as a citizen of the world due to his heritage. Photographs and quotations throughout the book bring Obama and his philosophy to life.—Joanne K. Cecere, Monroe-Woodbury High School, Central Valley, NY

School Library Journal