Yo, Millard Fillmore!

by Will Cleveland

Complete with cartoons and comic-book captions, this colorful reference tool provides a chronological listing of all the presidents of the United States, as well as fun-filled facts about each and every one. Original.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Childrens, Biography, Presidents

116 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every two years I go to a trivia night.

And every two years they have "U.S. Presidents" as a topic.

And every two years my table looks over at me and says, "GREAT! We've got Habecker here. This should be a cinch."

And every two years I get this panicked expression. Seriously, panicked. "No, you guys. Just... no. ...I don't know the U.S. Presidents in order. I can tell you who the fattest was, who had the wooden teeth, and which one was from Pennsylvania. Beyond that, I'm as clueless as you. Maybe even more so."

"But you're a social studies teacher," they intone. "You're supposed to know every historical event, every country and all of its land forms, its capital, GDP, major cities, major exports, current conflicts, past conflicts... ...Why the hell do you think we brought a loser like you onto this team anyway?"

"I... uh... I thought maybe you guys just liked having me around."

At this point, I can hear the mutterings, see the pursed, half-sneering lips... "sshillsaf toldya d b a bust" "loserlikethatwoulda" "eveno theU.S.Presidents....socialstudiesteacher..."

No, it was never fun. (Although, thanks to goodreads I have been able to hold my own during the literary and author rounds... Take THAT English teachers!!! Who's the loser now?!?)

But now, now I'm going to be tops in U.S. Presidents AND literature.

*EDIT* I probably shouldn't have said anything negative about an English teacher in this review, as an English teacher gave me this book in the first place. ...Maybe we'll be on the same team this year. *END EDIT*

Here are some positives and negatives about this book:

Positive: I now know all the presidents in order.

Negative: The cover says, "Memorize them all (forever) in 20 minutes without trying." ...Yeah, I must be an idiot, because it took quite a bit of trying and WAY more than 20 minutes.

Positive: I feel pretty good about myself for learning them.

Negative: I feel pretty good about myself for learning them. Seriously I'm 30 years old. Am I that insecure? (Looks like I've answered my own question.)

Positive: I know a bunch of facts about the presidents as well.

Negative: The book uses pictures, so some of my facts are: The 9th president was a Hairy Van. William Henry Harrivan. I mean Harrison. What did that guy do besides being a hairy van? ...I don't know, but probably more than Zachary Taylor. Ahhhh... that's funny. ...see... you'd get it if you would have read the book.

Positive: I kindof had fun reading it, if I'm being honest. And if nothing else, it's helping me develop my structural schematic of U.S. History, even at this late juncture.

So: 4 stars. Yes, 4 stars... You're welcome Will Cleveland. Tell your uncle Grover (#22 & #24) I said hi.

[Jessica (JT) · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom got this for my brother and I when I was probably around eight or nine years old. We were home schooled so whenever we needed a break from whatever we were studying, she would go through this with us. We had it completely memorized eventually.
I had not looked at this book or tried to say all the presidents in order for quite a few years but yesterday I was able to go through most of them. I got lost in the middle a little bit, though, so I'm not so sure about the "forever" claim of the book, but it's pretty close! I'd recommend going through it once a year or so to make sure it stays fresh in your mind.
This edition is pretty outdated. It stops with Bill Clinton and the pages with short biographies of the presidents are inaccurate now (George H. W. Bush took over as the longest lived president and George W. Bush made some facts about father and son presidents inaccurate for example).There's an updated version out there now which I'd recommend for anyone interested in memorizing the order of the presidents.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember buying this book from Borders in fourth grade and thinking I was the coolest when the next week I could name all the presidents for my teachers. I remember my friends getting mad at me during recess because I would always pick "presidents" as the trivia topic and dominate because what 8 year old knows John Quincy Adams was the 6th president?

I just rediscovered it in my childhood home, and it truly is amazing for memorization. Although I didn't remember much from my first read as a kid (it claims you'll memorize them forever, but I give it a pass because I have a truly terrible memory), it was really easy to pick back up and I had the majority of the presidents memorized in less than an hour. Plus, there's some fascinating facts like William Henry Harrison had the shortest presidency because he got pneumonia after giving a really long inaugural address on a very cold day.

Great for any trivia fan -- adults and kids, alike!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This did the trick for my six year old son. We didn’t take one day at it though. We did five presidents at a time and practiced till we knew them and then moved on. It took him about a month but he has all 45 down (our version ends at Clinton but three more wasn’t hard). It’s already proved helpful because he is better connecting with his history since he has a working time line of sorts in his brain.

[Elijah Caskey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best and fastest way to memorize all the presidents!

[Belle Meade School]

973

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing. Any other review that talks about the "paragraph summaries not being really good" is rubbish. This book is meant to memorize presidents and here is my experience:
- I am 33 and took on the challenge to go 20 minutes. It took me about 25, though I'd add another few run-throughs to get them to the point where you can say them backwards or respond quickly
- My 6 year-old took a total of about 2 hours to memorize them over the course of about 3 weeks using it for 10-15 minutes each night during bedtime reading. It's been a few months since he learned them and I'll randomly ask him, and he knows them like the back of his hand.
- My 4 year-old started learning them after my 6 year-old and we've done it about every night (5-10 minutes) for about 1.5 months and she can say them in order with hardly any prompts. The other night she did them backwards with very few prompts
- Lastly (for humor's sake) my 3 year-old has been listening in (bunk bed with 4 year-old) and HAD to have her own time to "read the Presidents". We've been doing 5-10 minutes for 3 weeks and she has the first 15 with small queues.

The "Yo Sacramento" is now what we're working on and they love it just as much! These books give vital historical and location context to everything I WISH I would have learned in elementary. It's already helping ME put stories, events, facts, etc into historical context.

[Shelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I highly doubt that the claim this book boasts on the cover is accurate “Memorize them all (the presidents) in 20 minutes – without trying.” However each page does give an interesting paragraph about each of the first 42 presidents. No single presidency can be adequately summed up in that brief amount, but used with other books repeatedly reading these facts again and again may lead to some of them sticking.

[Julianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read much better summary books of the presidents. I'm not sure if the memory game they have would actually work, but that wasn't what I was expecting from the description of the book...I was expecting a book of little known facts about little known presidents.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't say I was especially impressed with this one. The strange tale they have you remember was even more complicated than simply memorizing the names. And is there really a point to memorizing them all? That's what encyclopedias are for.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy and fun way to memorize and REMEMBER the presidents. I know I had to memorize them during my school years. But I seemed to have forgotten most of them. This book is a great tool. Our homeschool co-op will be using this book as a source to learn the presidents.

[Austin Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

2-stars for adults. 4-stars for children. Uses mnemonics for students to remember the order of the Presidents.

Coolest thing about this book was that Millard Fillmore joined the Know-Nothing Party after his Presidential defeat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Not...

[Kermit · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.2 stars

It's a small book that provides one big mnemonic device to be able to remember all the Presidents of the United States in correct order.

I liked its companion, Yo Sacramento, a little bit better.

[(unknown) · Rating 2 out of 5]

simple memnonics don't work so well on me.

[Primadonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, this is neat! And informative! And fun!

But I still don't remember most of the names. Maybe I'm THAT forgetful.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great way to learn about and memorize the order of US presidents.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I am looking for the online ebook version.

[MaryAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how I learned all the presidents in order in 3rd grade! Highly recommended for late elementary and middle school aged children.

[Erin Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to memorize the presidents? Who doesn't! Great book to read with your 4/5th grader!

[Taryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous, inventive way to remember the presidents