Do you know who was president when "The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung for the first time? Do you know which president had fifteen children? Who was the first president to keep an automobile at the White House? Who was our only unelected president?

The Buck Stops Here is filled with the fascinating details that tell the history of the presidents of the United States. The delightfully silly, rhymed text will help readers remember the names of the presidents in sequence, and the pictures will help the viewer connect the presidents to their accomplishments—for better or for worse! Yet this is not a history book, although it contains an enormous amount of information about America's past. Nor is it a story book, even though the events hidden within the marvelous symbols and pictures are the stuff of our most exciting stories: the struggles for freedom and justice; the settling of the wilderness; the inventions and discoveries that changed people's lives; the battles and assassinations that, like pieces of a puzzle, create a picture of our people.

In this unusual picture book for all ages, Alice Provensen gives us a unique, personal view, in text and pictures, of the presidents of the United States. In doing so, she also provides a visual history of our country—its art, architecture, fashion, ideas, and values; a picture of our past that, if we look closely, may tell us something about our future.

From the dust jacket