Children watching modern-day politicians berate one another might benefit from reviewing leaders from the past.
Jefferson and Adams began this way, but they changed, as Suzanne Tripp Jurmain describes in "Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and the True Story of an American Feud" (Dutton, ages 6-10). Her initial page notes contrasts of size, money and habits as "different as pickles and ice cream." Their commonality? Compassion for family, love of country and the tireless work they did together. And yet their philosophical views were in such total opposition that they maintained an 11-year feud. This personal view of political parties and personages adds humor to facts, relates the trials of friendship in a way children will easily understand and ends with the surprising revelation that they both died on the same day, the 50th birthday of a nation they'd helped "grow up together."
Barbara Kerley focuses on the same subject in "Those Rebels, John and Tom" (Scholastic, ages 6-10). She blends facts and the famous feud with a lively voice describing how the two fought King George's view of America as "nothing but a big fat piggy bank to be turned upside down and shaken for coins." Her telling is narrowed to how the two men worked together for independence and has more details, and she draws on more quotes from these early leaders. These books make marvelous companions.
