America Votes: How Our President Is Elected - Softcover

Linda Granfield has won many awards for her non-fiction/history titles for young readers and adults including the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work. Her books include In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae, Pier 21: Gateway of Hope, Canada Votes and America Votes. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Steve Bjorkman has illustrated over seventy books for children. He lives and votes in Irvine, California.

Gr. 4-6. Granfield breaks down information about the American electoral process into manageable chunks and presents each topic on an attractive, double-page spread. Subjects range from qualifications for voting and the troubled history of voting rights to the Electoral College, campaign finance, and election fraud. Solid research, a detached perspective (originally from Massachusetts, Granfield now lives in Canada), and respect for her audience provide a sound basis for the presentation, which is lightened by humorous asides and a keen sense of what will interest children. Bjorkman's ink-and-watercolor illustrations brighten the pages with light and sometimes amusing interpretations of American life yesterday and today. It's a sign of the times that the section presenting the role of television provides good definitions of terms such as photo op, sound bite, message of the day, and spin, but underlying Granfield's unflinching look at the way things work (including campaign spending issues, vote buying, and gerrymandering) is a basic faith in the system. An attractive, informative guide to voting in America. Glossary. Carolyn Phelan
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