What Presidents Are Made Of

Rating:
Summary: Object Lessons
Review: [This review was first published in the "Ephrata (Pa.) Review."]

In this fun book, the creator has assembled whimsical collages portraying 17 presidents-using objects appropriate to each president's personality, involvements or quirks.

Nixon's portrait is assembled from a tape recorder; the cassette spools become his eyes, the buttons his teeth, the curly cord his hair. (Because Nixon was terrible with machines, he arranged it so that his office tape recorder turned on automatically; he unwittingly recorded his and his staff's misdeeds.)

Jimmy Carter's portrait features, among other things, peanuts (his nose), a mini-ladder (his mouth) and mini-tools, highlighting his career as a peanut farmer and his work with Habitat for Humanity.

In an introduction, Piven encourages readers, "to try your own `object portraits' of the presidents." He certainly provides ample inspiration.