The Kid who Ran for President by Dan Gutman

So, just in time for the election in the coming weeks I will be highlighting some of my favorite election-based novels. Whether it be for student council, or in this case, the actual president.

Oh, and just a note, I've been thinking about it, and I've decided to adopt a method other bloggers have been using and using the good reads summary. It's mostly because since my summary is unique, other people could plagiarize for their class assignments, and frankly I just don't want to get caught up in that. Most likely, I will be summarizing myself for books that I maybe receive from marketers, mainly so you can fully grasp parts of the book the "general" summary doesn't give.

Summary: Goodreads: "Just in time for election season, Dan Gutman 's hugely popular THE KID WHO RAN FOR PRESIDENT is back. Humor, adventure, and excitement will draw kids into the world of elections and politics.

"Hi! My name is Judson Moon. I'm 12 years old and I'm running for President of the YOU-nited States."

So begins this fast-paced, funny, and surprising account of a boy's run for the Oval Office in the year 2000. Under the tutelage of Lane, his brainy friend and self-appointed campaign manager, the affable sixth-grader from Madison, Wisconsin, takes on the Democrats and Republicans as a Third Party candidate who can make waves. "Grown-ups have had the last one thousand years to mess up the world," Judd tells a reporter. "Now it's our turn."

What I liked: To sum up, it was funny yet informative at the same time. I mean, who has ever even thought about a twelve-year-old running for president? But Dan Gutman made it work. With the help of Lane, he truly brought the story to life, incorporating political aspects a kid like Judson wouldn't understand without Lane. The story actually taught me quite a bit about how candidates get nominated. I didn't know you had to petition to be put up on the ballot. There's a lot of political information which was woven into the plot line beautifully. I've always loved Dan Gutman's work, and this book was, as expected, exceptionally good.

What I Didn't Like: So, if you've been paying attention to the blog, you may have noticed last week's book review on the Lawn Boy series. One of the things I didn't like about that series was the tremendous amount of luck Lawn Boy had, and this is one of the reasons why I didn't like this book. I mean, to even get on the ballot, they had to convince two thousand people to sign the ballot. And then they got kids to boycott vegetables by saying they're going to abolish homework. I mean, I was willing to give the book a little slack because it would be tough to write a book based on this otherwise, but at times it got pretty insane.

Rating: 8.3 out of ten.

Why? Even at the times where it was a little crazy, it still made me laugh. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, especially at time when we're so close to election day