The Failed Presidential Campaigns of Children’s Book Characters
It’s weird.
Over the years many children’s book characters have tried running for President of the United States. They announce their candidacy on the covers of books. You’ve seen them. Yet not one has successfully become President of the United States.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
And now none of them even mention politics at all.
Who ran? What caused their political careers to come to a crashing halt? Let’s take a look.
Candidate: Bad Kitty
Election Year: 2012
% of Popular Vote Received: 0%
Lost To: Barack Obama
Possible Reason: Candidate focused resources on neighborhood cat club election rather than national election.
Candidate: Clifford
Election Year: 2004
% of Popular Vote Received: 0%
Lost To: George W. Bush
Possible Reason: Attack ads alluding to the Big Red Dog’s ties with Russia
Candidate: My Teacher
Election Year: 2004
% of Popular Vote Received: 0%
Lost To: George W. Bush
Possible Reason: Teacher wasn’t interested in the job.
Candidate: Babymouse
Election Year: 2012
% of Popular Vote Received: 0%
Lost To: Barack Obama
Possible Reason: Doubts over her “A cupcake in every locker” campaign promise.
Candidate: Duck
Election Year: 2004
% of Popular Vote Received: 0%
Lost To: George W. Bush
Possible Reason: Candidate was a duck
Candidate: Madam President
Election Year: 2008
% of Popular Vote Received: 0%
Lost To: Barack Obama
Possible Reason: Voters unclear on candidate’s name.
Candidate: Max
Election Year: 2004
% of Popular Vote Received: 0%
Lost To: George W. Bush
Possible Reason: Class president election didn’t translate to national election.
Candidate: Ellie McDoodle
Election Year: 2014
% of Popular Vote Received: 0%
Lost To: No presidential election that year.
Possible Reason: It was a mid-term election. Ellie should have set her sights on one of the 33 senate seats up for grabs that year.
Maybe one of the 2016 candidates will break through?
Filed under: Articles
About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
Publisher Preview: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (Fall 2025)
Don’t Cause Trouble | Review
Our Mock Newbery List is Up to 52 Titles
When Book Bans are a Form of Discrimination, What is the Path to Justice?
Here Have Some New YA Thrillers
ADVERTISEMENT
I think this would make a great Election Day display…..
So I was right to hang onto my “Vote for Pedro” shirt! And here people were telling me it was “So 2004″….
This is a really fun topic post and a great way to introduce children to the presidential election without making things too political. Thank you for posting 🙂
I was delighted to see my book Pedro for President on your 2016 list. Pedro runs for president of his first grade class and . . . .wins. There were no medical questions unanswered since both candidates were vaccinated.
This blog post is excellent! We just ordered all the books and are going to read them over the next 3 weeks. Afterwards, we will discuss which book character would make the best president based on the stories. We are concluding with a mock election. Thanks for sparking the idea!
I’ll be interested to hear the results!
I will post the results when we finish, Fran.
Thank you, Jim!