Blog the Vote

I met with Catherine’s mother-daughter book club last night, and we couldn’t help but talk a bit about the election tomorrow in the midst of our book discussion. Since we live in Oregon, which has mail-in ballots for everyone, most of us had already cast our votes, but we still wanted to talk about the issues.

I know our daughters are discussing the election in school, and it’s provided a great entrée for discussions of our own when Madeleine wants to share something with me that her class read and discussed form the voters pamphlet, or Catherine wants to talk about the results of a mock election in her class.

Neither of my daughters is old enough to vote, but I’m glad they are engaged in a discussion on the issues so they’ll know how important it is for them, as part of a democracy, to think about what they believe and to vote thoughtfully once they register. And I do believe my husband and I are setting an example when they see us reading the voters’ pamphlet, talking about ballot measures and candidates, then carefully filling out our ballots and mailing them in.

There are several books I can recommend about elections and the political process. These books can be read anytime, even when it’s not an election year, and they show a glimpse into the process.

Children’s Books – Elizabeth Kennedy at About.com has a list of The Top 6 Books About the Political Process/Elections/Voting. They run the gamut from fiction to non-fiction, and they range from books for 4 year olds to 14 year olds. To that I’ll add one I read and reviewed here recently. It’s called as if being 12-3/4 isn’t bad enough, my mother is running for president by Donna Gephart. Woven into the story about a middle school girl whose mother is running for president, are thoughts about why anyone with children would choose to be president of our country. It’s very interesting reading.

For teens, I can’t say enough about Gore Vidal’s American History series of historical fiction. Starting with Burr, which covers the founding of our country through Andrew Jackson’s presidency, continuing with Lincoln, my favorite which gives incredible insight into the issues at stake in our country leading up to and during the Civil War. Vidal continues with the series through the mid-20th century with 1878, Empire, Hollywood, Washington, D.C. and The Golden Age. All together they present a fascinating look at the politics and politicians of our country for its first 200 years.

So don’t forget to vote in tomorrow’s election. And check out a few other blog posts from the children’s literature world as part of the effort to blog the vote. This link will bring you to Chasing Ray, written by Colleen Mondor. Colleen has many links to authors, librarians, and others writing about the importance of voting.