Several of my children were actually fighting over the first new "Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents" book when it came in. My 15 year-old, down to the 7-year-old, have read through the "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists" and "Getting to Know the Worlds Greatest Composers" books with a passion - ok, guilty.... I read through them with as much delighted fervor as they do. Mr. Venezia's books are beautiful, short enough to be digestible, filled with incredible pictures of famous works of arts, and, maybe best of all, they are hilarious and FUN! And my entire family (myself included) has learned more about art and music from Mr. Venezia's series than any other source. Period.

Mr. Venezia has become a celebrity in our household, so when we saw that the first installment of the new series, "Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents" came out; we were like sugared-up kids on Christmas morning.

Once again, cracking open the first edition of this series, George Washington, we were not disappointed. I didn't think I could ever enjoy a resource as much as Venezia's Artist and Composerseries. Now he has tied (with himself) for third with this new "U.S. Presidents" series. This series will be a large part of my family's Social Studies and History class this school year. And it will be the most exciting, fun, and interesting class in our schedule. As I write this very review, my seven and nine year olds are on the couch reading and discussing the life and times, personality, and history surrounding our 2nd president, John Adams. What's weird is, they are enjoying and understanding history! If I had to recommend only one series as a must have for any homeschool library it would be a three-way tie between the Mike Venezia series, "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists", "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers" and now, "Getting to Know the World's Greatest U.S. Presidents"

Now if only Mr. Venezia would be kind enough to write a series on fractions....

Visit Mike Venezia's website to learn more about this incredible series, and with the price being around only six dollars a book (soft back) you can begin building your library with this phenomenal resource right away.

-- Product Review by Jenefer Igarashi, Senior Editor, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine

And another perspective:

Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents
Written and illustrated by Mike Venezia
Scholastic / Children's Press
http://www.mikevenezia.com/mikevenezia/index.asp

When these showed up at my house for review I was very impressed. We have always really enjoyed and learned so much from Mr. Venezia's, Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artist and Composer series so we knew we would also be impressed with these. We were not disappointed. I am thrilled he has branched out and created the President series. These books are engaging and fascinating. They hold the attention of the children and I find they choose to read them over and over. How many books on Presidents can you say that about?

We appreciate the colorful presentation and the children really enjoy the cartoon depictions of various aspects of the President's lives. What are also really nice about these hardback books are the full-color paintings, portraits, and drawings placed throughout along with maps of the prominent locals of history. Beginning with their youth and ending with their deaths the books cover in concise and interesting fashion the lives of these prominent men.

I really appreciate Mr. Venezia's ability to communicate important facts as well as make it attention-grabbing. I look forward to seeing more from Mr. Venezia.



-- Product Review by: Kate Kessler, Product Reviews Manager, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine