As Hillary Clinton sets her sights on becoming the first female president of the United States, the Democratic front-runner has found herself in another role – the subject of children’s books.
In Hillary Rodham Clinton: Do All the Good You Can, author Cynthia Levinson charts her rise from her youth in Park Ridge, Illinois, to her work as a US senator and secretary of state.
Levinson brought Clinton’s story this week to fourth graders at Cold Spring Elementary School in suburban Washington, whom she found were paying close attention to the presidential race.
“I hope kids enjoy the book, and I hope that it’s thought-provoking for them,” said Levinson, who went to Wellesley College with Clinton and interviewed mutual acquaintances and the former first lady for the book.
The book is among several recent children’s biographies on Clinton.
They include Hillary Rodham Clinton: Some Girls are Born to Lead by Michelle Markel and Jonah Winter’s picture book Hillary.
While the books all include the theme of female strength, Levinson said she was keen to highlight both Clinton’s successes and failures, such as her vote for the US war in Iraq and bungled healthcare initiative while first lady.
The grade-schoolers were divided over whether Clinton, 68, was the woman for the job.
“I’m more on Bernie Sanders’ side. Hillary Clinton is less direct than Bernie Sanders,” said Sudhish Swain, 10, referring to Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination.
Many students said they got their news about the election, which will be held in November, from the radio or school bus debates.
“We mostly agree that Donald Trump would not be a good president,” said Tianlai Yang.
Katherine Pease pointed out: “He lies, he’s a hypocrite, he’s a megalomaniac, and he’s delusional, which, really, those four qualities aren’t good for a president.”
She showed off an op-ed piece she had submitted to the Washington Post urging Republicans to rally around one candidate to counter Trump.
The nine-year-old said that she hoped that candidate would be Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Kyle Baer said he liked Clinton but still would not vote for her if he were old enough.
“The only thing I have against her is that she’s already been a resident of the White House before, and I don’t think she should be a resident again,” he said.