THE PRESIDENT AND MOM’S APPLE PIE

This enjoyable tidbit of historical time will no doubt have kids remembering William Howard Taft, 27th president of the US, for at least one thing: his size (over 300 pounds) and his love for food, thanks to the jolly, rotund depictions of the balloon-shaped man. A young boy remembers the day in 1909 when President Taft came to his town to dedicate the new flagpole. The crowd cheered and the Firemen’s Band played when the train whooshed into the station and the portly president squeezed himself out the door. Before he reached the flagpole, he sniffed a wonderful aroma. It’s the spaghetti at Tony’s Italian Village, the boy responds and takes Taft there where he polishes off a giant plateful—but that’s not the aroma. Next, they try Big Ed’s Barbecue followed by Mrs. Wong’s Hunan Palace. Still not the right smell. Following his nose, Taft leads the parade of townspeople to Acacia Avenue, where the boy lives and his mom’s apple pie is cooling on the windowsill. Taft’s eagerness to taste the treat sends the pie sailing into the air, but the boy catches it, saves the day and the pie for the president to eat. Though fictional, the story could have happened, as two paragraphs on the back of the title page provide context and profile Taft. The colorful, playful illustrations capture the energy of the comical situation and effective double-page spreads are backdrops of small-town life with Taft’s figure dominating the pages surrounded by round-faced, rosy-cheeked people. (Picture book. 5-8)