What Is Congress?

What was...?

by Jill Abramson, Who H.Q., David Malan (Illustrator)

Whether Congress is in session or not, here is an enthralling overview about the branch of our government closest to average Americans.

Best-selling adult author and the first woman to become executive editor of The New York Times, Jill Abramson is a self-confessed political junkie. Now she has written the book she wishes she'd had as a young reader. Explaining clearly and concisely what exactly Congress does, this book is peppered with fascinating stories, including the bloody beating in the Senate of a lawmaker in pre-Civil War days, the Watergate hearings, and Senator Joe McCarthy's shameful witch hunt of Communists. Kids may start considering a career in Congress themselves when they learn fun facts, such as the special candy desk in the Senate, and the fact that all lawmakers can bring their dogs to work!

With 80 fun black-and-white illustrations and an engaging 16-page photo insert, readers will be excited to read this latest additon to this #1 New York Times Best-Selling series.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Childrens, Government, Middle Grade

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 11, 2021

About the author

Jill Abramson is a senior lecturer at Harvard University. She also writes a bi-weekly column for The Guardian about US politics. She spent seventeen years in the most senior editorial positions at The New York Times, where she was the first woman to serve as Washington bureau chief, managing editor, and executive editor. Before joining the Times, she spent nine years at The Wall Street Journal.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

In none of the other books in this series have I seen the political bias as I see it in this book. The basics of how Congress works are there in the beginning, then there seems to be a shift to a lot about Civil Rights, and some of the more notorious members of American politics rather than discussing how Congress works with the other branches of government for the good of the American people. Nancy Pelosi also appears to be a favorite as she is mentioned in a few places. Not a fan of this book.

[Victoria B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book about Congress. Some major things are missing, such as explanations of the various committees and their responsibilities as well as how Congresspeople are appointed to those committees; the process of how bills become laws through Congress; etc.

A couple of the events described have a political slant (whether intentionally or not) and the author uses more than a few loaded words, which may influence young readers to think one party is better than another without context of what those parties stand for.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to read the history, but definitely opinionated and biased, which I do not think this book should have had.

[Jenalee Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this to my fifth-grade class. I wish it went more into the committees. It would have been better to have a bit more content and explanation for students. It jumps around to cover a wide time frame and maybe would have been better focusing on a century at a time to create a mini-series within the series. Overall, it’s a good snapshot, but definitely needs other material to provide a strong understanding.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this with my kids on our DC trip hoping to give them some understanding of Congress. There was some information on how congress was formed and what congress does but no as much as I expected. This was more political and a general history of politics. This is certainly relevant but I think it overshadowed the book.

[Jim Sugrue]

I borrowed this from local library in order to check new account. Familiar with Jill Abramson's works. It was a good read for perhaps middle school students but I could not recommend beyond that.

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise description for young adults or anyone to learn what is entailed with how things work in Congress. Well done.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book did a pretty good job but at the end it seemed a little rushed.

[Karthika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a charming book about Congress. Congress has a lot of history and it is difficult to cover everything in a small children's book. But this little book did a good job. However I would have liked if it explained how the election process took place, how members are elected to the Congress, and about the electoral college. A basic difference between Democrats and Republicans should have been give to young children. The illustrations are catchy and different. With just a few pencil strokes the illustrator has drawn complete faces with features.

[debora c. dardinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected the book to talk more about congress and the processes. Some of the history was helpful in understanding how congress works, other parts were history that should be in another book. It clearly had a political leaning and asserted items as facts that are either contested or the full story was not told. It’s disappointing that the author didn’t stick to the facts and attempt to be more neutral.

[Leah Borg]

Careful, Author Jill Abramson, your bias is showing! I typically enjoy these short books because of their quick read and good synopsis of events/people but this book, especially towards the end shows it’s bias against Trump and for liberals such as Obama and Pelosi. It also gives incorrect, already debunked facts about January 6th. It also incorrectly states that overall Congress has made the lives of the American people better. Yikes!

[Kevin Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now obviously I am not the targeted audience of these books as they are geared towards Children. However I thought this served as a great introduction into how congress works. The last few pages leave a little bit to be desired as it mentioned the storming of the capital on January 6th which shows the liberal tinge of the series. However, Most rational people will agree that January 6th was a blight on American History and will go down in infamy.

[Sunny Kim]

I really liked this book. IT was fun and i liked all the details about the history.

[K Morlando · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative children's book, we enjoyed learning about this

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the who is better

[Kristi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Factually incorrect. Needs an update!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually learned a lot from this one.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice for refresher for my government quiz which I only missed one question on today 49 out of 50 🎉