Parents interested in having their children learn about the presidential race will find several kid’s books about presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but so far just one for her Republican rival Donald Trump, and all of them lean against Trump.
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Two children’s picture books about Clinton were released in January, for example, and both focus on the historical nature of her candidacy. She will be the first woman to win a major political party’s presidential nomination, and the book talks about her life as a woman in politics.
On the other hand, a picture rhyming book on Trump will publish in July and it depicts him as a disruptive, orange, kidney-shaped blob with a yellow mass atop its head. The blob also does not have a brain.
Hillary Rodham Clinton: Some Girls Are Born to Lead, by Michelle Markel and LeUyen Pham and published by Balzer and Bray, dubs Clinton as “a new breed, a superwoman.” It refers to “the hard, invisible prejudice that prevents women from becoming powerful leaders.” And it says of Clinton that “all her life she’s fought for fairness and compassion.”
By contrast, the book A Child’s First Book of Trump, by popular comedian Michael Ian Black and published by Simon and Schuster, instructs children what to do if they encounter “an American Trump.”
“The beasty is called an American Trump,” it says. “Its skin is bright orange, its figure is plump. Its fur so complex, you might get enveloped. Its hands are, sadly, underdeveloped.”
The book paints “an American Trump” as a boisterous, loud and attention-seeking monster. It also describes “several Trump mates,” a reference to the celebrity businessman’s ex wives.
Rhymes in the book instruct readers to ignore Trump (his “biggest fear”), but that if unsuccessful, “I hear there’s an absence of Trumps in the North.”
The final illustration shows a crowd of people crossing the border into Canada.
Hillary, a picture book by Jonah Winter and Raul Colon, published by Schwartz & Wade on the same date as Markel and Pham’s books, takes an equally glowing view of Clinton’s history.
As secretary of state, the book says Clinton “was the hardest of workers, getting up earlier and staying up later than anyone … making decisions that might save lives or cost lives, meeting with foreign leaders from the mightiest countries, such as Russia, speaking clearly and courageously.”
The book closes with an illustration of Clinton’s silhouette, facing into a cloudy sunset: “What kind of person sets such a record?” it says. “A person who is unstoppable.”
