Jonah Winter pays tribute to the men who founded the United States in all their strengths, weaknesses and contradictions. New Yorker artist Barry Blitt's pen-and-ink and watercolors play up some amusing aspects yet stay true to their characters.
Winter's introduction describes the tensions between the Founding Fathers and their inconsistencies ("They claimed in their Declaration of Independence that 'all men are created equal.' And yet, in their Constitution, they made no such claim"). He then profiles 14 of them (showcased on the endpapers in Blitt's terrific cameos) with a bio, followed by facts such as their height, weight, political leaning (with words such as "straight" for Washington and "cranky" for John Adams), wealth and more. Winter's telling choices play up some of the men's more striking differences, such as "human slaves owned" (Benjamin Franklin, for instance, had two, "whom he freed"; Thomas Jefferson owned "around 200"), followed by their "position on slavery" (Franklin "absolutely opposed it," while Jefferson "spoke out against it, but was also for it"). The leaders' most famous quotes and their achievements also appear. For each, Blitt creates a full-page portrait (e.g., John Hancock, who financed the Revolution, asleep on a pile of moneybags), as well as often humorous vignettes to accompany their "stats."
Winter also introduces lesser-known figures, such as John Jay, who was the chief peacemaker in a treaty with Britain at the end of the American Revolution. Readers could dip in and out, but they'll read straight through this delectably designed volume. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness