First Pets is a creative book that provides children with tons of fun facts. This book features accounts of the president’s favorite pets. Pets have always been a part of life in the White House, but the details are usually lost in history. This book tells the stories from Washington’s horse Nelson to George W. Bush’s controversial cat India. I like that this book includes funny stories about the inside of the White House because it makes these incredible, often heroic, men seem more relate-able. I also like the illustrations in this book. The pictures of the presidents were like caricatures, which makes them seem friendlier to the children that will be reading this book. The illustrations of the animals were more realistic, but featured funny additions like a ribbon hat or a speech bubble with a funny “quote.” This book can also be helpful when students are trying to learn the names of the presidents and the proper order of their term in office. ( )

This book provides information about Presidents Washington’s through George W. Bush’s pets. The main point of this story is to give the reader information. I really enjoyed this book. One thing I really liked about this book was the subject. I thought that the topic was really interesting. I think that sometimes the idea of learning about the president’s can be boring, and this made them seem a lot more interesting. The stories about their pets were really humorous, such as the story of how President Benjamin Harrison chased his pet goat, His Whiskers, and the cart with his grandchildren inside, down Pennsylvania Avenue. Another thing I really liked about this book was that each president had a sidebar of information about the years he was president. I liked that even though the main purpose of the book was to learn about the presidents’ pets, there was still some more important historical information listed as well. ( )