(Review) Who would you vote for? Donkey or Elephant

Title: Vote for Me!
Author: Ben Clanton
Illustrator: Ben Clanton
Pub Date: April 2012
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Pages: 40

Source: Read in the school library.

About the book:
Hey, you! Yes, you with the dazzling smile! The donkey wants your vote. So does the elephant. And each will do just about anything to win your support. Brag? Sure! Flatter? Absolutely! Exaggerate, name-call, make silly promises and generally act childish? Yes, yes, yes and yes. Soon, the tension mounts, and these two quarrelsome candidates resort to slinging mud (literally) and flinging insults. And what happens when the election results are in? Well, let”s just say the donkey and the elephant are in for a little surprise — and a certain bewhiskered, third-party candidate is in for a first term.

Vote for Me! is a timely satire of American politics, but it”s a story readers of all nationalities and ages will recognize. Comical, retro illustrations (in shades of blue and red, of course) are completely winning, and the duelling duo”s insult-laden exchanges promise to have readers laughing out loud.

Just before school ended I got to read this to the library classes. This was a new book that was being put into the school library and the kids loved it. (The grades ranged from 3 to 6) They were all laughing and taking part in the book while I was reading it.

The book is about a donkey and elephant (who are friends) and they are running in an election and they want your votes. They each give reason’s why you should vote (silly but funny reasons) from them and it turns sour pretty quickly with throwing mud at each other and calling names.

Then when the results come in donkey and elephant are in for the shock of their life. Who will win? Well you will have to run out and get the book to find out.

When I asked what they liked about the book they said the illustrations, the ease to read it and the surprise ending. The illustrations were very well done and very simple which was nice because they didn’t distract the kids. Plus the surprise ending because you didn’t see that one coming although a few of the kids did.