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Wackiest White House Pets
In the tradition of the Caldecott-winning book SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT? Gibbs Davis and David A. Johnson present some of the White House's wackiest residents with hilarious fun.
White House pets come in every size, shape, and species. What are some of the pets that belong to the world's most powerful men and their families? John Quincy Adams' alligator liked to slither across the White House steps and was fond of chasing the guests! Thomas Jefferson took walks around the garden with his pet grizzly bears! James Buchannan received a herd of elephants from the King of Siam! William Howard Taft, who was fond of creamy fresh milk, kept a milk cow in the kitchen! With comical anecdotes and hilarious illustrations, here is a side-splitting look at American history.
White House pets come in every size, shape, and species. What are some of the pets that belong to the world's most powerful men and their families? John Quincy Adams' alligator liked to slither across the White House steps and was fond of chasing the guests! Thomas Jefferson took walks around the garden with his pet grizzly bears! James Buchannan received a herd of elephants from the King of Siam! William Howard Taft, who was fond of creamy fresh milk, kept a milk cow in the kitchen! With comical anecdotes and hilarious illustrations, here is a side-splitting look at American history.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 27, 2025
Reviewed for THC Reviews
Wackiest White House Pets is a children’s non-fiction picture book that details many of the more unusual pets that America’s past presidents and their family members have kept at the White House. Thomas Jefferson was gifted a pair of grizzly bear cubs by the explorers, Lewis and Clark, that he often walked around the White House lawn. During John Quincy Adams’s administration, his good friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, visited along with his pet alligator, which inhabited the East Room of the White House for two months. The king of Siam presented James Buchanan with a herd of elephants, but since they were too big to live at the White House, they were donated to the local zoo. Although the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning tradition seems to have started in more recent years, Abraham Lincoln’s son, Tad, persuaded him to pardon a turkey, which then became a family pet, along with many others they owned. Teddy Roosevelt is known to have had an entire menagerie of pets that included snakes, a lion, a hyena, five bears, and a zebra, among other. These are just a few of the oddest pets who’ve inhabited the White House over the years that are highlighted in this book, but the author also gives a full accounting of all known pets of past presidents, too.
As a lover of both history and animals, I’m sure that’s why Wackiest White House Pets caught my eye when I first saw it. The book certainly spotlights many highly unusual animals who’ve been kept as pets by our former presidents and their families, while also relating brief snippets of history alongside each one. The highlighted animal(s) takes up two pages and the text is accompanied by the whimsical illustrations of David A. Johnson. They compliment the stories well and will probably draw a few laughs from kids. Each of the animals is given a superlative such as “Most Pampered,” “Tiniest Dog,” “Most Wholesome,” etc. At the end of the book, Ms. Davis includes a section titled “More Wacky Pet Facts,” which runs down the presidents one by one detailing their names, years they served, nicknames, a quick highlight of their administration, and all the pets they were known to have owned, along with a challenge for kids to pick the ones they think are the most wacky. Unfortunately the book only covers presidents up through George W. Bush, and I don’t think there is an updated version of it available. Still, overall, I enjoyed Wackiest White House Pets and learned things I didn’t know about all the first pets. Since kids tend to love animals, I think this is a clever way to teach them a little history, and it also includes a bibliography at the end to inspire further reading.
Wackiest White House Pets is a children’s non-fiction picture book that details many of the more unusual pets that America’s past presidents and their family members have kept at the White House. Thomas Jefferson was gifted a pair of grizzly bear cubs by the explorers, Lewis and Clark, that he often walked around the White House lawn. During John Quincy Adams’s administration, his good friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, visited along with his pet alligator, which inhabited the East Room of the White House for two months. The king of Siam presented James Buchanan with a herd of elephants, but since they were too big to live at the White House, they were donated to the local zoo. Although the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning tradition seems to have started in more recent years, Abraham Lincoln’s son, Tad, persuaded him to pardon a turkey, which then became a family pet, along with many others they owned. Teddy Roosevelt is known to have had an entire menagerie of pets that included snakes, a lion, a hyena, five bears, and a zebra, among other. These are just a few of the oddest pets who’ve inhabited the White House over the years that are highlighted in this book, but the author also gives a full accounting of all known pets of past presidents, too.
As a lover of both history and animals, I’m sure that’s why Wackiest White House Pets caught my eye when I first saw it. The book certainly spotlights many highly unusual animals who’ve been kept as pets by our former presidents and their families, while also relating brief snippets of history alongside each one. The highlighted animal(s) takes up two pages and the text is accompanied by the whimsical illustrations of David A. Johnson. They compliment the stories well and will probably draw a few laughs from kids. Each of the animals is given a superlative such as “Most Pampered,” “Tiniest Dog,” “Most Wholesome,” etc. At the end of the book, Ms. Davis includes a section titled “More Wacky Pet Facts,” which runs down the presidents one by one detailing their names, years they served, nicknames, a quick highlight of their administration, and all the pets they were known to have owned, along with a challenge for kids to pick the ones they think are the most wacky. Unfortunately the book only covers presidents up through George W. Bush, and I don’t think there is an updated version of it available. Still, overall, I enjoyed Wackiest White House Pets and learned things I didn’t know about all the first pets. Since kids tend to love animals, I think this is a clever way to teach them a little history, and it also includes a bibliography at the end to inspire further reading.
August 21, 2012
This was an interesting book about the various animals that have lived in the White House. I was fascinated by the number of creatures our presidents have had. Each of the stories was very short, which is would be fine but there were a couple of times when it felt like the author left out important information. For example, one story mentions that the president had to say goodbye to his alligator but never said what happened to the alligator. ?? Where did it go? Did they give it to a zoo, set it free? Perhaps if I knew the fate of that alligator I could have given this book 5 stars.
Even so, I would recommend this book to any fellow animal lovers.
Even so, I would recommend this book to any fellow animal lovers.
May 24, 2013
I think the picture of the sheep mowing the lawn is really funny. But, right now I am too young to really like to sit and listen to the stories about the animals. Mama makes up different stories to go with the pictures. That makes the story a little bit more fun.
June 23, 2022
Who knew there were so many wacky Presidential pets!? I love learning something new and this book was full of interesting information. I didn't know that there were so many different presidential pets. Some of them include Thomas Jefferson who had trained Mockingbirds and Emily and Quentin Roosevelt had many animals, but brought snakes to meetings at the White House! You will learn about a president that had a raccoon, opossum, goats and a fish and more. I really enjoyed this book and I think that your students will also!
March 31, 2020
Who knew there were so many wacky Presidential pets!? This was a fun book that provides background on Presidents up to George W. Bush along with their pets. This would make a great supplemental/engagement activity for a social studies lesson. The bibliography in the back would also make it a great resource for a research project.
January 21, 2018
Such a fun read for pet lovers about our nation’s presidents.
August 24, 2021
Fun book with good facts. Learned a lot!
November 21, 2011
I really enjoyed reading this nonfiction picturebook! It was funny and informational. The pictures were nice and funny. I learned many interesting stuff about our past presidents. For example, that Thomas Jefferson had grizzly bears for pets!This book is informational because for every president listed it starts with a little part of their biography, then it mentions the pets they had. I will definitely have my students read this book ,because I am sure they will enjoy it. After reading this book, I will have them draw what pet they would have if they lived in the White House.
December 6, 2012
This book was so interesting and definitely told a great story about all the president's different animals that lived at the White House. The introduction is really what made me want to check this book out. I will say that on the first couple of pages it mentions the word "jacka**" so i do not think I would use this in my classroom, but if students ever wanted a great book about wacky animals and the stories behind them, then it would be my number one pick.
March 29, 2010
This high interest narrative nonfiction will surely captivate my readers. I liked the index at the book of the book detailing each president chronologically with his nickname, a brief sketch about his service in the Oval Office and the animals he kept while in office. A bear, an alligator, goats, cows and even opossums have called 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home!
March 9, 2008
My daughter brought this home from the school library and I ended up as engrossed in it as she was.
February 1, 2010
Reading with Students. Kind of long, but they really like seeing the different animals and everything.
January 1, 2015
It was okay but the writing was not very smooth and the pets weren't all that wacky.
March 15, 2016
Always fun to learn about history through pets. Our various Presidents have had a wide variety of pets.
April 18, 2017
interesting. good B.O.B. choice for non-fic
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews