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pwbalto's review
3.0
Gr K-3 -- You might not expect a hot-pink squid to be a likely candidate for president, especially since this squid seems to possess very few qualifications for governance. Sure, he wears a tie, has a huge house, and does a lot of bossy talking, but even young readers - and certainly Squid’s undersea neighbors - recognize that these are not very good reasons to elect a person president. But when he puts all his effort (and all his legs) into doing a good deed for a stranger, he learns that “helping people... is very presidential.” As an added bonus for grownup readers, President Squid’s egotistical bombast can be read as a satirical take on real-life candidates with little political experience. Fun, cartoony illustrations by Sara Varon keep things light-hearted, especially Squid, whose misguided self-aggrandizement is mitigated by his goggle-eyed, enthusiastic demeanor. Great for an election year, or an undersea storytime, paired with Kevin Sherry’s I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean and This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen. —Paula Willey
readingthroughtheages's review
3.0
If Trump ends up deciding he's going to be king after this presidential election, you'll know he read this book.
k_b00kish's review
2.0
Although this is a picture book, when read by adults, it's kinda scary how much this story mirrors the current presidential campaign!
lisaarnsdorf's review
2.0
Meh. This one made so little impression that I can't even remember what it was about, other than a squid who wanted to be president (ahem, context clues). We read it once and returned it to the library. Not bad, just not memorable.
witchofthemountains's review
2.0
The illustrations are somewhat cute, although the squid's pupils are just jagged black marks which was kinda disconcerting. That aside, I'm one of those people who want the books I read my kids to have some kind of point or lesson. It doesn't have to be in your face, but I still like it to be there (though I by no means feel that all books need a lesson...just the kids books I want to read my son). There's really no point or lesson in this story. In fact there's kind of an...anti-story, I suppose you'd call it.
Squid wants to be President because he has a big house (but the president's is bigger), because people have to listen to the president and Squid is very good at being loud so people will listen, and the president is famous. When it is revealed that being president is a lot of work, requiring helping people and doing right by others, Squid decides that he doesn't want to president. He wants to be king because, I quote "All of the power, none of the work".
If I were a suspicious person I might think that this book is poking fun at a few of the current world leaders out there right now, but that might just be me. That being said, it's really just not a book I'd read more than once.
Squid wants to be President because he has a big house (but the president's is bigger), because people have to listen to the president and Squid is very good at being loud so people will listen, and the president is famous. When it is revealed that being president is a lot of work, requiring helping people and doing right by others, Squid decides that he doesn't want to president. He wants to be king because, I quote "All of the power, none of the work".
If I were a suspicious person I might think that this book is poking fun at a few of the current world leaders out there right now, but that might just be me. That being said, it's really just not a book I'd read more than once.
couillac's review
3.0
Super fun read for election season and begs to be read aloud. Highly recommend this one for storytimes.