Book Review: First Ladies Make History (OT)

First Ladies Make History, by Anita McBride and   (White House Historical Association, 2024, 24pp HB, $9.00) Review by Skye Anderson

First Ladies Makes History is a little book that packs a wallop of colorful information about the wives of our presidents.

We loved the inside covers: the inside front cover has a drawing of each of the first ladies along with the dates and their husbands while the inside back cover has the presidents - all in cartoonish drawings but easily recognizable.

First Ladies opens with a chronological few pages, introducing us to some of the ladies. Each two-page spread thereafter features a different topic that many first ladies had in common, mostly the issues they favored, such as diplomacy, education, and civil rights. 

We simply loved the incredible depictions of the ladies and could recognize nearly all of them, even though they sort of look alike. It will be fun to try to identify the first ladies on the bak cover, too.

First Ladies Make History will rekindle your knowledge of history and spark an interest in government in your child. Author Anita McBride was Chief of Staff to a first lady and Giovanna McBride, her daughter, is an Education major and author.

Book Review: Ofi' Tohbi' Ishto' and The Chickasaw Clan Animals (OT)

Ofi' Tohbi' Ishto' and The Chickasaw Clan Animals, by WT Skye and Sarah Garcia (Chickasaw Press, 2024, $7.99, 24pp) Review by Skye Anderson.

Basically a book of elementary piano music which also portrays the Chickasaw people and their clans of animals, Ofi' Tohbi' Ishto' both educates and also entertains. The tune about a skunk delightedly gives us music for the teacher as well, so both student and teacher can play a fun duet.

This book contains six little songs, mostly in a minor key - one about each animal starting with the big white dog, then raccoon, woodpecker, deer, skunk, and alligator. Each animal has its clan or family of Chickasaws.

We can see so many ways this book can be used in a classroom or family. Children will have their favorite animal, perhaps due to the tune they like best. And there are paragraphs about the white dog and the other clan animals, as well as three Native American musical instruments and, finally, two pages of vocabulary and musical symbols - a lot of information and fun packed into six songs and a few pages.

And if you look closely, you will see the big white dog's body is wrapped around to the back cover! Give your child a star if they notice that!