Happy Inauguration Day
On the Books, with Jacqueline Jules

Today's Reading: Wackiest White House Pets

Wackiest Pets Cover Photo-2 The kiddo is home sick today, so we're going to finish reading Wackiest White House Pets, a picture book written by Gibbs Davis and illustrated by David A. Johnson (Scholastic, 2004). Did you know that George Washington liked for his horses' teeth to be brushed? That Jefferson owned two grizzly bears and that John Quincy Adams once played host to an alligator?

I like the way Davis weaves in tidbits of other Presidential history while talking about the pets, and although the illustrations are too silly for my taste, children may find them humorous. The reading level is fairly high—about third or fourth grade, in my estimation. We haven't reached the end yet; the last pet in the book is Millie, the first Bushes' springer spaniel.

The current White House blog will likely tell us when the Obama girls get the puppy that their father promised.

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Hope he feels better soon. Happy inauguration day!

Jules, he made a speedy recovery. Thanks! We loved watching the inauguration parade on CSPAN--no talking from the network talkers!

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