Yes We Can: A Biography of Barack Obama

by Garen Thomas

In third grade, Barack Obama wrote an essay titled, “I Want to Become President”—and he is, to this day, determined to show the world that, yes, he can. Born in the U.S.A., the son of an African father and an American mother, a boy who spent his childhood in Indonesia and Hawaii, Barack Obama is truly a citizen of the world. His campaign for the presidency is powered by a fierce optimism, an exuberant sense of purpose and determination, and, above all, a belief that change can happen. Garen Thomas takes us through the life of Barack Obama, from his struggle to fit in with his classmates and concern about not knowing his biological father, through his term as Illinois senator, to his historic and momentum-building run for president of the United States. Barack Obama is a man who uses his words to inspire us. We can have a better future. We can be whatever we want to be. Yes. We. Can .

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Politics, African American

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Garen Thomas worked as an editor in children's book publishing for more than a decade, editing numerous notable children’s picture books and novels. She continues to act as a consultant and children's books editor on a freelance basis while working on her own writing and film projects. She holds an A.B. from Harvard University.

Reviews

[Michael Davenport · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am a Republican that wanted to read a book that I disagreed with. I didn't know much about Obama so I chose this book, which was my mistake. I was hoping to read a biography about his accomplishments in politics not the history of his life. I like how the book illustrated his sound marriage between him and Michelle. I didn't like how the book focused so much on his race. A person is more than his heritage and I felt like the book focused too much on his ethnicity rather than his accomplishments.

[Gaijinmama · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 9 year old son prefers nonfiction and he has been fascinated by Barack Obama since the Presidential campaign last year. Yes We Can is a great young-adult book about President Obama, from his childhood right up to the big election. Several of my university EFL students chose this book, as the level isn't too hard for an intermediate learner.
As a de facto single Mom Monday to Friday, I have to say I particularly sympathized with Obama's mom's efforts to bring up her child without much help from both his father and stepfather, and even more so with the description of all those years as Michelle brought up their two girls mostly
on her own as her husband climbed the political ladder to success (Michelle Obama, in the extremely unlikely event that you're reading this....you have my utmost respect! You are one strong, cool, classy lady.)
Highly recommended for anyone interested in Obama's life and in the American political system.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book Yes We Can is a well written biography by Garen Thomas. Yes We Can is a overview of Barack Obama’s life and a explanation of the American political system to readers like me. Obama faith and optimism for the American peoples was impenetrable. Knowing that he was African American and had a Muslim background was impossible to gain America Trust especially after 9/11 occurred. The American people were scared they needed a President that could step up and end the violence in the Middle east and capture whoever was responsible for 9/11. Despite the adversity it is important to have courage to express your individuality
Barack Obama Sr deserted Barack as a child he grew up knowing 3 people in his life, his mother Ann Dunham, his grandfather Stanley Dunham, and grandma Madelyn. Kenya’s customs put a strain on Barack Sr marriage. Barack Obama Sr had wives and children in Kenya. Which inflicted the marriage when Ann Dunham found out about his secret life in Kenya Despite the Adversity, and Discrimination Obama brought peace and prosperity to unified us as one.

The reason why I enjoy the book because it’s informative and included motivating speeches that were spoken by Obama himself.” It is about the past versus the future” pg 78. People tend to define who you are by your past than what’ve you accomplished.

[Ethan Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ethan Bennett period 2
Biography
Presidential (201) pages

Garen Thomas takes us through the life of Barack Obama, from his struggle to fit in with his classmates and concern about not knowing his biological father, through his term as Illinois senator, to his historic and momentum-building run for president of the United States. This book was very interesting and full of facts about our former president. I give this book a four out of five and I recommend this book to anybody who is interested in reading a book about a president. I liked this book also because it talked about Obama's childhood a lot and not all about his years in office like the biographies do.

[Emilia Pimentel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente !!

[Narayanan S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply graceful. You understand where Obama comes from and how he built himself. Critical but crisp. Take about 3 hours to finish through.

A recommended read for any age.

[S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember on my 8th Birthday. This book was a gift from my parents.
Yes We Can is a great book and okay to read for any age group

[David Jung · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has its moments, but dumbed down and overly biased. A quick read.

[Imari Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very engaging but pretty interesting

[Karina V Nieblas · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a way i didn’t feel complete his story but I love the fact this book focus a lot on his father, that explains a lot of Barack Obama as a human.

[Kobe Ashby · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Yes We Can” is a book written by Garen Thomas. The book is about the childhood and young adulthood of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. In the book the author discusses the experiences that the former president had to deal with to climb to the level of success he’s currently at today. Topics such as racism, trying to fit in with classmates, and family troubles appear many times throughout the book. Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961 to Stanley Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. During his youth he was told great stories about his father and aspired to be just like him. Barack spent his time learning where he fit in socially while also trying to learn more about his father.

Throughout the book the author writes in a colloquial tone. The type of writing style the author uses makes the book more interesting to read, sort of like having a conversation on the topic of Barack Obama. He doesn’t use too many fancy words that are hard to understand and he uses English to convey the background information of the former president in a voicey way, whilst he combines the literal and figurative elements of writing in the book. Another reason why this book makes an interesting read is that the author doesn’t use long sentences so you aren’t reading one page for too long. The author explains his life from his childhood to presidency, in the book he explains many topics that the audience can associate their own personal life to that makes Barack Obama more relatable to the audience and inspiring to African American readers. One topic that really touched me was dealing with separated parents and starting your social life over many times. These are two topics that I connected with the most which is why I found the book more fun to read.

I would personally recommend this book to others due to the fact that it was genuinely fun to learn more about the first black President of the United States. For a while I stopped reading books and picking up this book made me realize that reading is an experience that can be entertaining and fun. I enjoyed reading this book so much I started missing some classwork because I couldn’t put it down. The way that the author writes and the interesting experiences make this book a 10/10 read. The book is an emotional roller coaster that shows family bonding, violence, and hatred. I recommended this book to my Dad because in many ways Barack Obama and my own Dad are very similar. I know that he owns many books specifically about historical black figures and this is a book that he hasn’t read yet. I personally can’t see a negative in the reading experience when I read this book.

[Allison Lupton]

Thomas, G. (2009). Yes we can: A biography of Barack Obama (rev. ed.). New York, NY: Feiwel and Friends.
Reviewed By: Allison Lupton
Reference Type: Biographical Reference
Reading Level: 6th-9th
Call Number: 973.932
Cost: $7
Description: This book discusses the life of President Obama, emphasizing his childhood and the many events that shaped him such as only seeing his father once and his exposure to many various cultures.
Relevance/Relationship: With an intense amount of pride in our country due to the large amount of military families, students take a great interest in military and political topics.
Purpose: The purpose of this book is to provide students with information about their current President.
Validity: This book has been reviewed by multiple sources including School Library Journal.
Format: Print
Arrangement/Presentation: This book has maps, an appendix, index, and many photographs.
Diversity: This book addresses diversity due to the cultural references throughout.
Review Citation: Cecere, J. K. (2011, August). References [Review of the book National Geographic kids almanac 2012]. School Library Journal, 55(8), 128.

[Jacob Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is about the life of Barrack Obama. The book first of talk about the life of his real dad growing up in Kenya and meeting his real mom. After this Barrack Obama was born but his real dad move away before Barrack was born. This was the being of Barrack life living with his grandpa and grandma in Hawii. Obama was a great basketball player when he first start in 6th grade. In High School Obama was get scholership to play basketball in Divison 1 school. Obama graduted from high school and going to Harvard. After college Obama find this girl and started to go out.Shortly after that they decied to get married. Now today Obama is are president and with 2 kids.
This book is a great book but a poor kid now the leader of this country. I would give this book a 9.5 out of 10. The reason I would do that is it has a lot of passion and good things about the book the only thing I didn't like about it was him playing basketball. The book is a thriller because to see a kid go from nowhere to being the first ever African America to become Presdient of America.

[Cory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry Ash, thanks for the book but this one is only getting 2 stars. I started reading this book and realized how much of a mistake I had made. Not only was it a book about how great the democrats and black people in general are, and how suppressed they've been by the white people, its also written for kids. While I was reading I found that England is a country in Europe. AIDS is a disease thats killing many in Africa, and Apartheid was a bad system of racial discrimination in South Africa. It kind of annoyed me on how it spelled out what each of these was because it didn't expect the reader to already know. While I am extremely impressed with Obama and his rise from having nothing, not even parents, to being the leader of our country. I am not impressed with this author. I was disappointed to learn that she was a Harvard graduate, she obviously didn't learn much while she was there.

[Alp Ozdaryal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, "Yes We Can: A Biography of Barack Obama", tells the main outline of his life, and some details. It is a long-ish book, and has about 250 pages. It tells the important details of his life, like how he met his wife, what he did as his job before president and senator, and how as a child he turned to basketball to release his frustration and anger. This book, "Yes We Can: A Biography of Barack Obama", tells the main outline of his life, and some details. It is a long-ish book, and has about 250 pages. It tells the important details of his life, like how he met his wife, what he did as his job before president and senator, and how as a child he turned to basketball to release his frustration and anger. Overall, it is a good book, a 4 star. I would say it is more for 8-11 year old kids.

[Kevin Arth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. It gave me better insight into the life of the president and it was fascinating learning some of the details of his upbringing that led to where he is today.

This book is geared toward younger readers (maybe early teen). I read the whole thing in an evening. It takes care to define terms that the author thinks would be confusing to this age group. For example, when discussing the President's genealogy, they take the time to explain that in many African countries, it's common for a man to have more than one wife. In another place, they reference Obama's involvement with the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. They take the time to explain briefly what apartheid is.

My 12 year old is reading it now for a book report and I think she'll enjoy it.

[Veronica Ruiz]

This is a chapter book geared towards students in grades sixth through eighth. I chose to read this book because it is suitable with all of the current issues. The 2012 election is coming up and Barack Obama is planning on running again. Although there are many different opinions about him, he is our current president and it would be nice to know his life story. This chapter book was a fairly easy read yet it was still filled with lots of knowledge from where Obama came from and grew up to things he is doing now as president. The book included famous quotes that he has said and photographs of his family and himself through out his life. I enjoyed this book and feel that I learned a lot about our inspiring president. Hopefully he can continue to do a great job for the next four years.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is suposedly geared towards school kids. I guess that`s one way of saying it`s not a very well-written book, not a very sophisticated read. I`m not entirely sure if a school-aged child (9+) would find it interesting, or even be able to make sense of some of the confusingly worded paragraphs I stumbled through.

But I bought it half-price to see if I could learn more about Obama`s early years, and this book allowed me to do just that without going to the trouble of reading any (or all) of his previous books.

I guess I give it a shrug. I could take it or leave it. I can`t imagine recommending it to many people, but I passed it along to my sister.

[Emir DA BOSS]

The book "Yes We Can" is a book that describes Barack Hussein Obama Jr's long road to the oval office it lets us know how lucky we are that our parents are always around to help us, because this book showed me Barack's struggles, victories and defeats. He could've had more if he was with his father, but his mother did the best she could and it's thanks to her efforts and sacrifices that Barack was able to make it. Barack was a man never shy of perfection and he proved to most of us that dreams can truly come true and that's why we know Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America.

[Coren · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was very informational, it told me how his name was passed for generations. the book informed me about his struggles in life like him growing up with only one parent, and about him following in the wrong path in life and made a u-turn before it was too late. it also told me were he was born and were he moved too when his parents split apart. this book told me how in kenya where he was born the men were allowed to have more than one wife. at the end of the book it showed how hard it was to be a african american and run for presdent. the book was very boring at the middle of the book talking about how he meet his wife and there future .

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book actually gave me more insight into Barack Obama's history and how hard of a life he had growing up. I didn't realize how often he moved growing up (Hawaii to Indonesia to Kenya to New York to California to Kansas to Chicago). Jeez! I thought it was interesting how involved he became with the whole black vs. white saga going on while he was growing up. This is also a YA biography for a class I have and I liked how it explained a little about the history portions of the book (ie: Jim Crow laws).

[Alfredo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an inspiration for me, motivating me to read more books, I believe education is the key that allow our people to hope for something else, i am agree about that he is a citizen of the world because he has lived in several places. He believes in knowledge and love, i think is a powerful combination.
The main idea that a like from this book is "we may come from differents places and have differents stories but we share common HOPE and one very American Dream. After read this book i really think that we can have a better future...

[3shivk3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

SWBST

SOMEBODY: Barack Obama

WANTED: to help people living in black communities live a better life, and at the same time he wanted to make a difference in the apartheid community in the united states of amarica

BUT: he grew up in a average class family and did not go to a vey good school.

SO: he focused really hard in school and the graduated and got enrolled int Harvard university.

THEN: he took low paying jobs to help others but then his boss convinced him to run for president and then he ended up winning the election and is now still currently president.

[Jey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting biography. One exceptionally interesting thing was that anything that could be construed as innapropriate in his background was glossed over and given an excuse. I found several "facts" that I'm quite unsure of. This book had a definitely liberal-minset tone, don't read it unless you agree with the democrats completely or won't be swayed by propoganda.

Despite all that, Barack is an interesting man, and I'm glad I know more about his background now.

[Samantha Lazar · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing man! I am so excited to see what he will do to improve our country. He is intelligent and very capable of moving our country in the right direction. He is very well-educated man who has just made history in America.
He seems very honest and determined, and his words are very powerful. This is a great book, and I think everyone should read this book, even the people who doubt him because there is so much to learn about Obama.

[Reid]

I liked this book over all because it taught me a lot about barack obamas life and history. Before I read this book I didn't know a lot at all about Barack Obama and I didn't really like him that much but after reading this i can say that I have much more respect for him as a person and president. One problem though was that i didn't really relate to the book as much as i could have because I'm not african american.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned what Barack Obama's life was like as a child and all of the way up to his decision to run for president. It even tells about his mother and father's deaths and his harder times in life and when he was trying to help those in need in Chicago. It was wonderful and amazing it even had his family tree in it.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty dry book about Obama's life up until the elections. It does explain government and politics so that middle schoolers can understand, but there's not much flair to the writing. I read it because my son had to and because I wanted to learn more about Obama's childhood. I got that so I might recommend it to students.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting because I learned a lot of new information about Barack Obama and his life. It was pretty easy to read and understand and It was interesting. I leaned Barack travled all over the place as a kid and overcome many obstacles. I would recommend this to teens and adults who want to learn more about the President that will change America.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading about our current president and his life up to his election. Didn't know some of what I read. Would include this in my classroom for older students. The book does a good job of defining words 12 year-olds may not know, but I would probably keep this for middle school grades.