The Gift that is Of Thee I Sing

'Tis the season to give gifts, and when it comes to children, the only gifts I bestow these days are books. Yes, mostly children's books. I write them. I read and teach from them. I collect them. I adore them. They are soup for the soul for all ages. What can I say?

Topping my list this year is President Barack Obama's inaugural launch into the vast pool of children's literature -- Of Thee I Sing. I cannot more highly recommend the tale he subtitles "A Letter to My Daughters." It is as beautifully illustrated, poetically phrased, and uplifting as children's books come.

The image of Sitting Bull is the most compelling of all the painted wonders by Loren Long. Long gives the chief's forehead the shade and illusion of a burnt orange Western sky. He forms his pupils with the bold and meditative shape of buffalo and allows strokes of cracked, barren, rugged brown earth to form the healer's sturdy face, from chin to cheeks.

The opening lines of Of Thee would strike a musical chord in any child's heart. "Have I told you lately how wonderful you are? How the sound of your feet running from afar brings dancing rhythms to my day? How you laugh and sunshine spills into the room?"

Finally, what enamored me of this book more than anything, dare I say, is its breathtaking similarity in style and purpose to Kara Finds Sunshine on a Rainy Day -- my first humble entry into the magical world of children's books. Like Kara, Of Thee is chockful of vignettes of inspirational people and includes some of the same amazing human beings that grace the pages of the book I was moved to write nine years ago. Sitting Bull, Helen Keller, Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr. appear in both works, including the back page glossaries.

President Obama is going through a tough time as we witness just the second year of his presidency. He is being criticized by many segments of the population. But parents, children, teachers, librarians, and all other book lovers out there will find reason to praise the Author-in-Chief after reading Of Thee I Sing. More than anything, it's a gift.