Every Vote Counts

Since we just finished the vice presidential debate and are awaiting the second presidential debate of 2012 I will get back to the promised reviews of election inspired stories. I hope you're not too sick of seeing election stuff yet.

"Amelia Bedelia's First Vote"
By Herman Parish
Illustrated by Lynne Avril
For Ages 4 - 8
      Every day school is an adventure. When you add in a lesson on voting things can turn from adventuresome to exciting. And when Amelia Bedelia is in the mix, silly and unpredictable become the best way to describe the situation. Rated 3.5 (election, elementary school, humor for young and early readers)
     The excitement of voting day is a little much for Amelia. When asked to deliver a note to the principle, Amelia runs through the halls. Everyone knows you should never run in the halls. But Amelia was running and she crashed right into the principal.
     While in the nurses office she has a great idea and can help but tell her principal. He should let the students vote on the school's rules. So Amelia's class spend and entire period thinking up suggestions, including: ice cream sandwiches for lunch, a class trip to the circus, a fish tank in every room and homework-free Wednesdays. The last one was Amelia's suggestion.Thanks to a sick student everyone gets to learn about absentee ballots and the "swing vote." Since Amelia takes everything at face value, discussions of run-offs and swing votes conjure up plenty of humor and fun for young readers in this pleasant, if uninspiring, introduction to voting.