Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope

BARACK OBAMA: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes and Illustrated by Bryan Collier accomplishes everything it sets out to do for young readers. This biography for children is the ideal book to introduce children to a new era for social awareness. It touches on every aspect of humanity without eliminating anyone by race, creed, religion, disability, or social status. The poor people who inspired a child, turned out to be the very people who influenced him to effect change. BARACK OBAMA: Son of Promise, Child of Hope emphasizes to children the importance of self-determination despite the odds. It plants the necessary seed of preparing today's young minds for tomorrow's leadership. Nikki Grimes has successfully compressed the Grammy award winning: Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Mr. Obama into bite-sized, chewable pieces, which makes BARACK OBAMA: Son of Promise, Child of Hope compatible for educational purposes in the home and school. This perfect work of literature has fantastic illustrations that help children understand the basic principals of bridging the gap that found many people hurting. Nikki Grimes skillfully teaches children about Mr. Obama's humbleness and humility that became the foundation for him to embrace his past and future to unite a country. The values of his family near and far, their love in rainbow colors, his faith strong as a rock, and his hope to fulfill dreams are showcased in the most profound ways for any developing child. Reading BARACK OBAMA: Son of Promise, Child of Hope to children becomes even more powerful for adults and children as the words resonate deeply. It is a must have for every American home and especially the homes of our future leaders, the children! Reviewed by Swaggie Coleman for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I purchased this book for my kindergarten class. They really enjoyed listening to the story, talking abnut it, and pick it up to read and look at the pictures independently. A very interesting non fiction book.

Some children's books are read to them at times when they fall to sleep or when they just wake and are really with you, in a classroom after lunch at U Pick It Time, and these moments contain the hope and dreams of the reader for the child....yes in a way it is the instilling of this...yes, we do that. As a teacher the greatest sadness comes when no one cares enough to do that or really cannot in illiteracy and poverty or in a state that they are so self involved and cynical they are frozen. Perhaps it's a song sung into the heart of a child as our meanings, we desire they fully attend on some unseen level, and the personal prayer of continuing on this represents is wished into them. It will come into their being as meaningful one day, our hope. You cannot find that wrong. It is the work of the adults in raising children, ever a hard and important work. Nikki Grimes' text is read like this into children. This book opens with the premise that this is being told on a day from a mother to son, a song of hope and an embodiment of that being demonstrated as she tells him Obama's story. He is sitting, questioning, applying, making text connection of course to SELF. Just as a child will do with a great story. How am I like him. It's meant to connect to King on some invisible level, and contains other echoes and it does something here hard to write.....it connects. Here hope for future is repeated like a refrain to the child, explained, put into real form as an example within Barack Obama's life.... over the paralyzing of fear, poverty, really the notions that hold us back, and the drain of inadequacy and measuring up is being eschewed. Hope is defined and displayed as the operant within this leader. As an operant for this child from his mother to hold in hard times as meaning. If only it can be heard. I like the way the story works because I recognize her poetic devices and I like the way this telling mother and son keep reappearing in this text so that we take it back into our lives, into real lives and into personal contexts. Great device used by a master writer. Don't forget who is writing, you get nothing but masterful in her text. Now I really like the beautiful illustrations and know this artist from other work. I'd prefer exact likenesses of Obama, these aren't, but even there I suspect it's more off to give this to the thought that it might be many of our stories. It's funny but it calls to me of the lines and stiffness of Grant Wood and WPA artists. I hope fervently artists are employed again to transmit the message of hope to this nation in this our worst crisis in many years. Great work. Books like this are so great as classroom gifts. We most likely lack them and (at least in CA) our schools are being dismantled through the politics of greed, and now AFTER the choice was made of a leader, it is nice to delve into teaching children as positively as possible about the President. We teach to young children who is their nation's leader

The books ariived in excellent condition and timely fashion. Book's illustrations are lovely. Wonderful way for a family to share historical and cultural experience. A good addition to any family library.