If you are looking for Presidents’ Day books for kids, then you found the right place! These children’s books are great for teaching students about the holiday and the people we are celebrating. Using children’s books for Presidents’ Day is a great way to celebrate and educate in your classroom. Your students are going to love these read alouds! Check out the full list of Presidents Day’ books for kids below!
6 Presidents’ Day Books for Kids
Below are 6 quality Presidents’ Day books for kids. Your students are going to love these Presidents’ Day picture books! They are great winter read alouds!
1. Duck for President by Doreen Cronin
Duck For President is from Doreen Cronin’s series with characters from Farmer Dave’s Farm. In this story, Duck is tired of doing chores all day and getting dirty. He decides to hold an election where he will run against Farmer Dave. The animals on the farm register to vote and Duck wins! However, running the farm is much more work than Duck imagined.
He decides to get his friends together and run for governor. He makes speeches and meets a lot of people. On election day, Duck wins the governor. However, Duck soon realizes that being governor is also a lot of work. That night, he and his staff start planning his campaign to run for president. Once in office, Duck realizes how hard the job is and sees a help-wanted ad looking for a duck. He takes the position and returns to the farm with his friends and Farmer Dave.
Check out these Duck for President activities!
2. Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty
In Sofia Valdez, Future Prez, Sofia Valdez loves helping out the members of her community. She and her Abuelo rake leaves, walk pets and deliver food. Sofia loves walking to her school with Abuelo and her pup. One day on their walk home, the dog started chasing a squirrel. Sofia and Abuelo ran through the landfill after the pup. When they got to the top, the landfill crashed down and Abuelo broke his leg. Sofia missed walking to school with Abuelo and came up with the idea to turn the landfill into a park.
Sofia went to City Hall on her own and eventually made her way to the mayor. She explained her purpose and plan for building a park and he told her to start a petition. Slowly members of the community joined Sofia’s petition and they were able to build the park! Students will love this story about Sofia’s determination and perseverance. It will quickly become one of their favorite Presidents’ Day books for elementary. I liked it so much I added it to my Starts With a Story collection!
Check out these Sofia Valdez, Future Prez activities!
3. Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio
In Grace for President, a young girl Grace is learning about presidents in school. She is surprised to learn that there has never been a girl president. Grace decides that she wants to run for president and her teacher organizes an election.
Grace and Thomas, a student from another class, are running against one another. The students learn about the electoral college and Grace and Thomas both run presidential campaigns. They create slogans, buttons, posters, and come up with promises. Grace works really hard during her campaign and spends a lot of time working.
During the election, Grace and Thomas are tied when it comes time for the last state to cast their electoral votes. Thomas is certain that Sam is going to vote for him. Everyone is surprised when Sam chooses to vote for Grace and she wins the election.
When it comes time for career day, Grace knows exactly what she wants to be when she grows up: president!
Check out these Grace for President activities!
4. If I Ran for President by Catherine Stier
If I Ran for President makes a great read aloud before an election or in honor of President’s Day.
If I Ran For President is told from the point of view of different children that plan to run for president. Readers will learn what happens when someone first decides to run for president, what happens during a campaign and what happens on and after election day. Students will be introduced to important vocabulary regarding campaigns and elections.
While informative, the book is still entertaining and inspiring. Students will believe that they too can be president someday.
Check out these If I Ran for President activities!
5. If I Were President by Catherine Stier
The book If I Were President follows a diverse group of children explaining what their day to day life would be like as president. Students will learn about the events like the State of the Union and presidential duties like signing bills into law. Students will get to hear about the different special experiences that come with being president like throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game or having your own private chef.
Check out these If I Were President activities!
6. Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman
Maira Kalman’s book Looking at Lincoln, tells the story of a young girl who is interested in Abraham Lincoln. One day while walking through the park to breakfast, the young girl sees a man who looks familiar. It’s not until she is paying for her breakfast with a five dollar bill that she realized the man looked like Abraham Lincoln. This inspires the girl to learn more about the sixteenth president so she heads to the library.
Throughout the book, readers will learn about the life and presidency of Abraham Lincoln. He grew up poor and only attended school for one year, but loved reading. When he was older and married, he became interested in government and ran for president. Lincoln was known for being honest and kind. He didn’t believe in salves and fought to abolish slavery. Lincoln lost his life when he was shot while watching a play with his wife.
Lincoln is still remembered at the Lincoln Memorial, surrounded by the cherry blossom trees. Students will love this story that teaches them about Abraham Lincoln through the perspective of a young girl.
Check out these Looking at Lincoln activities!
Get All of the Presidents’ Day Book Activities!
Scoop up all of the activity packets based on the picture books featured in this post!
Or Get All of the Activity Packets for 600+ Picture Books!
Starts with a Story is a collection of hundreds of book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Each book companion includes:
- reading comprehension questions with sample student responses
- 30 writing prompts targeting 10 different types of writing
- SEL lesson ideas based on character and events from each story
- printable student activities
- editable teaching slides with book-based clipart
- and more.
Learn how to get unlimited access to all 600+ book companion packets below!
Teachers Love these Other Presidents’ Day Activities for Kids
We have lots of Presidents’ Day activities you can use in your classroom. Check out the blog post Presidents’ Day Activities for Kids to get more ideas and teaching resources!
One Last Thing Before You Go… Grab this Free Reading Resource!
If you want to get more book ideas to read aloud to your elementary students, then grab this reading freebie for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom teachers. It includes:
- seasonal read aloud books lists for teachers
- printable reading logs to track students’ reading
- monthly reading challenges to motivate students to read more
It will have you covered for the entire school year, as well as the summer months! Grab this free elementary reading packet now!
In closing, we hope you found this list of Presidents’ Day books for kids helpful! If you are a member of Starts With a Story, you have access to all of these book companion activities. Lastly, you may also be interested in these winter books for kids if you love read alouds like us!
