6 Elements of Social Justice Ed.: Grace for President

Sunday, November 28, 2010

By: Kelly DiPucchio

This book can be purchased at Borders:

Grace for President is aimed for readers ages 5-9 years old.

In Grace for President, Grace's class is learning about the Presidents of the United States. Grace is very bothered when she discovers that there has never been a female President. Grace feels that this is unfair and questions her teacher as she searches for a reason why. Grace's teacher decides to hold a school election where any students can be elected, male or female, in order to make it a little more fair and interest the students. Grace is up against a male classmate who is favored by many, but ends up winning in the end. The last line in the book is Grace saying that she will run for President of the United States some day, and change the tradition of only men serving as U.S. Presidents.

This book represents element 5: Raising Awareness, because Grace raises awareness to her teacher and fellow classmates about the fact that there has never been a female president in our country. The other students didn't pay much attention to this idea until Grace pointed it out to them. Grace also raises awareness to her teacher as her questioning promotes her teacher to create an "out of the blue" election at school.

I would use this book when teaching students about presidency. The book really applies to all aspects of politics and elections. I would also use the book to emphasize that men and women are equal and should be treated equally. I would show my students that if they feel passionate about a topic, they can make a difference and I will aid in any way that I can in the classroom.

6 Elements of Social Justice Ed.