Who Was John F. Kennedy?

Who Was . . . ? Series

by Yona Zeldis McDonough, Jill Weber (Illustrator)

The man who saved the lives of his PT-109 crewmen during WWII and became the 35th president fought-and won-his first battle at the age of two-and-a-half, when he was stricken with scarlet fever.

Although his presidency was cut short, our nation's youngest elected leader left an indelible mark on the American consciousness and now is profiled in our Who Was...? series.

Included are 100 black-and-white illustrations as well as a timeline that guides readers through this eventful period in history.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Childrens, Middle Grade, Biography Memoir, Presidents

112 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2004

About the author

I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn and many of my novels take place here. But my new novel takes place in New Hampshire, and I have woven into it a historical component: the tragic story of Ruth Blay, who in 1768 was the last woman hanged in the state. When I read about Ruth, I was fascinated and horrified in equal measure, and I knew I had to write about her.
I was educated at Vassar College and Columbia University, where I studied art history. But I started writing fiction in my 20's and never looked back. I am the author of seven novels, 27 books for children and am the editor of two essay collections. I'm also the fiction editor of Lilith Magazine . Please visit my website, http://www.yonazeldismcdonough.com or find me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/yzmcdonough; I love to connect with readers everywhere.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little book. We buy lots of Who Was books and use them for homeschool enrichment. Short chapters, larger font, and lots of pictures make these books an easy read. This was a great addition to our collection.

[sarah eli]

a very pg version of jfks life lol

also... very into jfk rn. i don't know why. this is simply my reality

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to this book, John F Kennedy had many careers, Naval Captain and a politician. Yona was a great author and inspiring me in my political life. The way JFK was described as a hero and a great leader was amazing! I just can't wait to read more of these books!!For now I Just want to stick with history. I recommend this book to Political people.

[Amanda up North · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was roughly my 60th read from the Who/ What/ Where? series, and quite a disappointment.

The illustrations are extremely subpar, the likenesses are poor (not likenesses at all). JFK and Jackie Kennedy are highly recognizable historical figures.. kids are hardly going to get an idea of what they looked like from this book.

It's shorter than most biographies in the series, which are usually 112 pages long. This one ends on page 100 and felt even shorter. I'm positive there is more information that could have been offered on his life (and death) - the kind of information and further explanation I've come to expect from the series.

It paints JFK in completely rose-colored light, and fairly insubstantial light at that (with the exception of the PT-109 section). Just a young man from a big family who was president for 1000 days. The Who books, despite their young target audience, usually do not shy away from tough facts and hard topics, a.k.a. the simple truth. Even the Who book on Jackie lets on that he wasn't a perfect husband. (I found Jackie's book much more informative.) This author suggests that JFK's life was extremely tame, all newspaper reading and rocking chairs. "It was a busy life, but a productive and happy one, too."
Caroline's birth isn't even mentioned.

This made me cringe:
"ROSEMARY (WHO WAS RETARDED) WAS BORN IN 1918."
This statement calls for better choice of words. Or just remove the note in parenthesis altogether. The majority of the other Kennedy siblings are mentioned no further than their name.
And besides, from what I can gather, Rosemary was born with learning and developmental disabilities, later in life she had bouts of depression and seizures, but it was actually the lobotomy her father had done to her in her early 20's that incapacitated her.

Another paragraph that irked me:
"As president, John Kennedy eagerly supported American space exploration. He promised that by the end of the 1960's, an American would land on the moon. He was right. In 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. It took him four hours and fifty-five minutes to circle the planet three times." (End of topic.)
He was right? Support that statement with a moon landing! Let's set an example to kids on how to write!

I've come to expect much better from these Who books. I'd suggest a rewrite on this one.

[Joey Oborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good it had good facts on JFK like he was only president for 1,000 days and he was a WWII hero and he saved his shipwrecked crewman in the Pacific Ocean. JFK was the youngest man ever elected as president of the united states of America, and he was the first Catholic president of the united states of America. Some people did not like him so this one guy shout him in the car he was in and he fell and there was blood every were and people were sad and when the Kenny family was on the plane back to D.C the vice president of JFK was getting sawn in as president of the United states of America.

[Luca Terrasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Who Was Ronald Reagan, this didnt stand up to the pure gold standard set by that book. The story of JFK is both heroic, beautiful, and tragic, and this book captured all of those major points. However, the details on his assassination were profoundly vague. I understand this is a book for children, but I am also a strong believer in the teachings of history with nothing stripped away. For example, Christopher Columbus didnt just go to america and have a feast and danced around with the Indians. That is what everyone is taught in school these days. They take out the very significant fact that he murdered many of the Indians and was a greedy, and rude person, at least when it came to how he treated the American Indians. Getting back on the point, I think maybe a bit more detail of the assassination would be necessary, because children need to know that. History must be learned so it doesnt repeat.

Anyway, I gave this book 4 stars because I overall enjoyed its clever yet easy to understand charm. I learned a lot about his early life, but once he was in office in the book, I just was reminded of his accomplishments I've known for a very long time. 4 stars, recommend to 5th graders and up who want to learn about presidents.

[Angel Gomez-Estrada · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book “Who Was John F. Kennedy” by Yona Zeldis McDonough, is a very good book that has lots of information on John’s life. It is full with details about him since he was a kid to when he died. The book talks about John since he was born, to the time he graduated and became a U.S. navy, to the time he got married and had children, to the time he became president, and lastly to the time he got assassinated. Obviously there is more to the book but these are like the most important things. I would recommend this book to people that like biographies or people that need information on a certain person.

[Chelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. There was definitely a lot that I didn’t know about JFK. I will say, this book didn’t seem as information packed as the other books of this series - maybe that’s just me. This was another book where I really didn’t like the inner illustrations of. Definitely too difficult for my students to read, so I’ll probably part with this book.

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book. The illustration of jfk on the front isn’t very flattering…. Lol. I knew most of the things listed in this book- except for the fact that Jackie rejected JFK at first! Lol!

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

106 pages. This was a very helpful book, explaining the very interesting life of a famous American President. I learned a lot about President Kennedy and especially liked the drawings and additional information about Irish immigration and Pearl Harbor. This would be a great book to read while students are studying WWII, 1950-60s or race to space. Highly recommended for Grade 5 and up.

[Emily Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is all about John F. Kennedy or as many also knew him as, Jack. The book tells the story of his life, where he grew up, and what led him to become President. The book talks a lot about his large family and the influence his father had on him to get involved in politics. The book also lists many things that he was involved in before his tragic death in 1963. He was loved by many, and to this day many people are inspired by him.
I really liked this book, it gave lots of great information about John F. Kennedys young life leading up to his presidency and everything in between. I also really liked how the book had many information pages throughout it that explained certain things like prohibition, pearl harbor, information about congress, and many more things. I found this to be very helpful especially for young readers who may not know as much about it. I would definitely recommend this book.
I think this book would be great for a unit on presidents, great leaders from the past. This book also has so much information that could be put to great use in a project about Presidents.

[Jimmyjamjamesjayy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good! Very informative and inspiring.

[Victoria Villa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book Who Was John F. Kennedy? By Yona Zeldis McDonough. I liked this book because it gave me more information on John F Kennedy that I didn't already know. I would recommend this book to people who need to write a book report on him or people who just like to read informational books on famous people from the past.

[Anna Cavallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book “Who Was John F. Kennedy” by Yona Zeldis McDonough, is a very good book that has lots of information on John’s life. It is full with details about him since he was a kid to when he died. The book talks about John since he was born, to the time he graduated and became a U.S. navy, to the time he got married and had children, to the time he became president, and lastly to the time he got assassinated. Obviously there is more to the book but these are like the most important things. I would recommend this book to people that like biographies or people that need information on a certain person.

This was a very educational book. I found myself fascinated by JFK's childhood and learning about all his siblings. Also liked seeing how this book portrayed his death. :-) great book for kids in school, needing to know facts :-) reading it a second time found me understanding more and wanting me to take every detail about him in. One thing that I found interesting was that I didn't know presidents could vote. Very interesting!

Another great biography for kids! I never knew that JFK was sickly as a child. It's amazing the things I'm finding out about history as I've become older. Yet a lot of it I'm finding out by reading kids' books. :)

A good book for kids. This book gives enough interesting details to keep you entertained and wanting to finish the story.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really well written biography, written in a 'storybook' format to hold the attention of the reader instead of just facts on a page. Started with his childhood and included events going on during Mr Kennedy's life. So many times authors leave that out so we as readers often forget these folks didn't live in 'our time' so adding in events such as World Wars and things help places them in their timeframe and the struggles they had to endure. In this book from time to time there are pages where the text is different and the author gives a half page to page 'History' lesson on something happening within the story. Such as she explains Irish Immigration,Prohibition, Hitler and War World II,Congress, etc. At the end she gives a time line of Mr Kennedy's life and on the next page across from it a timeline of events of the world so you can compare in a timeline. She also (which I LOVED) at the end she included a Bibliography.

This book is very nice to sit and read if you have an intrest in learning about JFK. It's a wonderful book for students that may be needing to write a paper on anything from 1920-1960's. So much wonderful information in this book and presented in a pleasant wonderful way!

I really appreciated the way Ms McDonough started this book, because she wrote about him being a 'hero' and saving a fellow military friend. Then took you 'back in time' and started telling about his birth and youth. So you already have an image in your mind of him and want to read more to find out the entire story. That was a nice beginning.

[Victoria B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, but not really worth rounding up.

Good biography. Obviously very positive toward Kennedy - no mentions of any controversies or indiscretions (which are occasionally mentioned in the other "Who Was" books).

What I didn't like:
- It seemed a little shorter than other "Who Was" books. Surely there's enough info about JFK and his accomplishments to create a full biography.
- The sidebars were difficult to read, in part due to a clunky font made worse by employing bold.
- The illustrations were terrible. Most "Who Was" illustrations do a decent job looking like the person they are supposed to represent and look almost like black and white photos. Not the case with these illustrations...they didn't look like JFK at all.

[Whitney Boatright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very educational book. I found myself fascinated by JFK's childhood and learning about all his siblings. Also liked seeing how this book portrayed his death. :-) great book for kids in school, needing to know facts :-) reading it a second time found me understanding more and wanting me to take every detail about him in. One thing that I found interesting was that I didn't know presidents could vote. Very interesting!

[Jacob L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

November
Who Was John F. Kennedy?
Yona Zeldis Mcdonough

John F. Kennedy wasn't just the president, but he had a whole hero's background. John started out having a harsh life because of having fevers when he was only two years old. He had nine siblings in his family growing up and he loved to play with his brother Joe. When he was young, his father ran a summer camp and they played football in the yard. The house was in Cape Cod and was practically on the beach. They were drilled by a full-time gym instructor and had lots of fun. John graduated from Harvard in 1912, and went into banking. In 1914, at the age of twenty five, he became one of the youngest bank presidents in the world. In the fall of 1930, he went off to prep school at Canterbury in Connecticut. After getting his appendix removed over Easter break, he decided to join his brother at Choate, a boarding school in Connecticut. There, he played football and after graduating, he decided to go to Princeton University. He then wasn't happy at Princeton, so he went to Harvard. He then continued to play football until he had hurt his back very badly. He then had to give up football, so he joined the swim team. When he got sick from time to time, he snuck out of the infirmary just to swim. Him and Joe always had anted to join the army, but due to his back injury, he failed the tests. He then accepted into the Navy. In 1943, he was given command of the PT-109 patrol ship in the Pacific ocean. After five months a Japanese destroyer had torn the ship in half. He then ordered his surviving men to swim to the Plum Pudding Island. One of his men had gotten burnt badly, so John helped him all the way to the shore that was miles away. Later, other PT boats came to the rescue to bring the crew home. He received medals for his bravery and leadership. Not months later, Joe was killed in a plane crash and that completely shattered him. His father always wanted the oldest son to run for president, now it was his turn. In 1946, John was going to run for congress in Boston, and he won the Primary for Boston. But in 1947 his sister Kathleen had died in a plane crash as well. This made him determined, so after five moths of now being a congressmen, he wanted to then become Senate. Johns Republican opponent was Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. all his hard work had paid off, he won by 51.1% of the votes. At a dinner party in 1951, he was introduced to a lovely lady named Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, "Jackie" as she was called. She refused the first date with John, but then they started dating and hanging out. They were then married in a Catholic church on September 12, 1953. Once fully recovered from his injury, he was ready to start his campaign for presidency. Some people were just worried about a catholic president, and thought that he might have been influenced by the Pope. At the 1960 Democratic convention in Los Angeles, California, another man also wanted to run for president. His name was Lyndon Johnson and was a powerful senator from Texas. This man had been in congress for twenty-three years. Johnson also considered running for Vice President, which would leave him next in line. John made a speech on TV to accept the Democratic nomination. It was a brilliant speech and stressed a bright promise of the future while reaching back to the pioneer past. John ran against Republican Richarn Nixon. On election day, Jackie and John went to the voting booths in Boston to cast their votes. It was a long nigh on November eighth, and at 2 a.m., the anwer was clear. John F. Kennedy was the next president of the United States of America. He has the first Catholic and youngest president ever. Later on, John hade founded the Peace Corps, an organisation that went to other countries to help them build schools and donate food. John F. Kennedy had been president for only three years, and had still made many mistakes, but solved big problems wisely. The next election was going to be in 1964, and in late 1963, he wanted a second term and was already thinking about his campain. He went through Texas to gain support, but everyone was worried about the croud. There was a long procession that headed through the city. The cars he was traveling in had a plastic shield that can block out rain and deflect bullets, but John thought it was a nice day out that he would keep it down. So many people had gathered around the vehicle and moments later, their was a gun shot and someone in the limosine was hit. John slumped over on Jackie and his head splattered her dress with blood. They were rushing to the nearest hospital, but it was too late. Not even a half an hour later, a man named Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for his crime and was then shot on live television by Jack Ruby. He then was arrested as well. On the following monday, John's funeral was held in Washington D.C. As the carrage with Kennedy in it rode passed Jackie and their two kids, John-John and Caroline, John-John raised his hand in a final salute to his father, and this became one of the most famous picture ever taken. John F. Kennedy had made special place in the earts of all Americans.

The main idea of this book is to inform the readers about the historic life of John F. Kennedy. This book was written as a biography and tells the reader what the life John lived and was known for. In the book, it tells the reader specific and important details that he did, or what happened to him. As John gets older, he makes some decisions that effect him for a long time, and some very good ones and all were lessons to the young President that learned many things in his life.

[Jillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

*sighs* Honestly, why do we even bother teaching kids history if we're just going to glorify everything anyway? This book is a good example of that. None of JFK's womanizing ways are mentioned because we don't want to "scare" young kids. Well, guess what? The world's a big, scary, complicated place, and the sooner they learn that the better!

[Shannon Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great biography for kids!

I never knew that JFK was sickly as a child. It's amazing the things I'm finding out about history as I've become older. Yet a lot of it I'm finding out by reading kids' books. :)

[Achantae C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very excited to see how this would all end at the end of this book. He became President and had 2 kids that loved him very much. He died in Dallas,Texas and that was the hard part for the kids and his wife to see him go just like that.

[Gerardo Sicairos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Who was John F Kennedy by Yona Zeldis McDonough is a great and short book only 104 pages but is very inspiring.I recommend this book to people that like learning about presidents childhood and about JFK.I loved this book I hope you will too!!!

[Alyssa McKendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was a really good book but also very sad. Before I didn't know a whole lot about JFK but this book gives so many interesting facts I could hardly stop reading it.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

John F. Kennedy was the 35th president. He won his first battle when he was two and a half years old. He was youngest elected president.

[Andrew Kiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I though it was a great book and i think you should read it.It had some great stories and discriptopn.

[Lili Li]

Who Was John F Kennedy
John F Kennedy was the first Catholic president and the youngest. He was a man that saved his men from the sinking of the PT-109 in World War 2. He was famous for these words ''My fellow Americans, do not ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for the country.'' And he got killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. What I think of this person is that he is not scared of saying what he wants to say and he was a brave person.

[Parent's review]
Before reading this book, I didn’t know much about JFK except that was a young president who got assassinated, had a beautiful fashion icon wife Jackie.
I didn’t know that he was from an immigrant family, who originally came to this country penniless. I didn’t know that his Irish background once was discriminated by the “main stream culture” in US. I didn’t know that he was a sick and weak boy growing up under pressure from competing with his older brother. I didn’t know that he did not have close relationship with his mother. I didn’t know that he ran public office only because his father demanded him to fill in his father’s hope originally for his big brother. And I didn’t know that his assassin was killed after being arrested and killed live on TV. JFK nevertheless died young, and sudden, his whole life is so full and legendary.
What relates me or surprises me most is that being immigrants in this country (I didn’t know that even within wealthy white population, they have this discrimination toward Irish decedents.) The other day, I was chatting with my friends on “mingling in this culture” when I first came to this country 1o years. I tried hard to adopt the “American way”, to mingle in, and only to realize years later that there are actually so many “American ways” and people in this country don’t really care what way you are as long as you share the fundamental core values that we human kinds all welcome: love, care, and respect. So after so many years living in this country, I ended up comfortably being myself—the “Chinese way”😊

[Elina · Rating 5 out of 5]

story. But why do they need to kill presidents. Yes some people hate the president a but did we get two terms. Which is 8 years. And they could get one term and that's only four years. Can't they wait that long. Any leads on to that story. So John F Kennedy is the second eldest in all of the 9 children. So John wants to fulfilled his father's dream which is to become the president. Now Joe who is the eldest he was the smartest the fastest and the best. Now John had many fever and types. Like diarrhea and scarlet fever. As he grew he was a captain of a ship and then the ship sank everybody Escape except about 11 people. There were 11 people with escaped too. But one of them got severely burned and then the captain is not leave him in the ocean he clutched the teeth with the string of the life jacket and then when they reach land it was a coconut and have it was broken into half and one of it said here's your Escape island or something like that. And since he drinks so much elsewhere in the ocean he collapsed on the island. But he was alive still. Then he also had a spine problems a hurted a lot. And then at the end of the story he gets shot. And it was too late when he got the hospital so he died. And the person who did the shooting I got in jail. The people say that they were two shooters because they were coming from two different directions. It was a sad but what can we do. Anyways the end. Oh and also want that whenever the pain got so much worse used a clutcher. And as the pain got bigger and bigger the doctor said that he should get a rocking chair. Now it's done.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered who was the first Catholic president!? Well, John F. Kennedy was! John F. Kennedy was also named Jack. Jack was a little boy in a big family. His brother Joe was the star of the family. All of Jack’s brothers and sisters admired Joe. Jack’s parents also admired him. Jack did not. Jack’s parents even had nine children, including Jack. Jack’s favourite sibling was her younger sister named Kathleen. Soon Jack even caught fevers, and diseases. His parents hoped he would not die, and he did not but he still stayed very ill. Soon when Jack got a little bit better his older brother Joe dared him to compete against him in a bicycle race. Joe was sure he could win the bicycle race. Joe was a star, and Jack was not. Even though Jack wasn’t a star he still competed against his big brother in the bicycle race. In the bicycle race Jack didn’t win. Instead he got hurt and went to the hospital where he needed to get a lot of stitches. When Jack was a little older Jack’s father also bought a nice white summerhouse. The summerhouse also had a lot of things, including a private tennis court, and a swimming pool. Later on as Jack grew up his brother, Joe began to be way better than Jack, and Jack didn’t like that. His brother was more and more like a star now, and Jack was not. At university or school Jack also doesn’t stand out that much as his brother, Joe. What will Jack do to stand out more than Joe!? READ THE BOOK!!!

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think i prefer the Martin Luther King, Jr. book better.

the same point i talked about in my review of MLKJ but worse. many things in his life were not discussed that i would rather the author did. i get that it's middle grade and maybe they cant talk about those things but still.
the author was bias and said nothing but the best about him. i don't want to read about how much you like him. i want to read about him. but the pushing was only here and there, so it didn't really improve the reading experience but did hinder it (a bit). after reading the MLKJ's book, i feel like this is a lot less sad and painful. MLKJ's book wasn't sob-worthy, but the things discussed were shocking and heart-breaking.
for a middle grade, i think it was well written and very understandable for the younger audience. it delivered the information in a simple way. i haven't read many non-fiction (MLKJ's was the first i've completed but not first read) and i think i would read more of the Who was series.

3/5

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is born to Rose and Joseph Kennedy in Brookline, Massachusetts 1917. In 1940 he graduates from Harvard college. One year after he enlist in the army. In 1944 his dad dies while on secret war time mission. He is elected to the U.S. house of representatives only 2 years after. 6 years later he is Elected to the U.S. senate. 1957 He Is married to Jacqueline Bouvier. 4 years later their first daughter is born, named Caroline. 3 years later he wins democratic presidential nomination; gives "new frontier" Speech. In the same year he is elected 35th president of America and first son John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. is born. 1961 he establishes peace corps. In the same year he meets with soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. Only 2 years later he is assassinated at the age of 46 sadly.

I really liked this book. It was good for learning about JFK. I would recommend to people who like biographies and history. I really liked how much info it gave on his life. The only thing I did not like is that it did not tell a lot about his childhood.