Adventure, history, and the drama of family life intertwine in this engrossing tale of a fifth-grade girl struggling to find her place after her mom remarries and she finds herself stuck with a younger stepbrother. Find out what happens when Ava and her newly blended family take a trip to Boston, where she buys a magic bobblehead and is unexpectedly transported to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As Ava and her stepbrother, J. P., travel back and forth with John and Abigail Adams and their children, from Massachusetts, to Philadelphia, to the White House, to France, she learns about history, friendship, and how to deal with new situations, including her recently blended family. This sequel to The President and Me: George Washington and the Magic Hat features some of the same characters.

George Washington and the Magic Hat: George Washington and the Magic Hat (The President and Me, 1)

Children's Books

Kalb, Deborah

Literature & Fiction

Schiffer Kids

John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead: John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead (The President and Me, 2)

After almost six months in Maryland, fifth-grader Oliver still misses his friends back in New Jersey. But things start to change one day, when his neighbor--and possible new friend--Sam lends Oliver a magic hat that takes him back to the 18th- and 19th-century world of Thomas Jefferson. Oliver and his sisters--Cassie, the nice one, and Ruby, the annoying one--end up learning more about Jefferson than they'd expected. And Oliver finds that his new neighborhood might not be so terrible after all.&nbsp;Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat&nbsp;is the third in The President and Me series that began with&nbsp;George Washington and the Magic Hat&nbsp;and&nbsp;John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead. This new adventure brings back previous characters Sam, Ava, J.P. (blink and you might miss them, though!), and of course the cantankerous talking hat itself.

Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat (The President and Me, 3)

The United States had never lost a war—that is, until 1975, when it was forced to flee Saigon in humiliation after losing to what Lyndon Johnson called a "raggedy-ass little fourth-rate country." The legacy of this first defeat has haunted every president since, especially on the decision of whether to put "boots on the ground" and commit troops to war.
In Haunting Legacy, the father-daughter journalist team of Marvin Kalb and Deborah Kalb presents a compelling, accessible, and hugely important history of presidential decisionmaking on one crucial issue: in light of the Vietnam debacle, under what circumstances should the United States go to war? 
The sobering lesson of Vietnam is that the United States is not invincible—it can lose a war—and thus it must be more discriminating about the use of American power. Every president has faced the ghosts of Vietnam in his own way, though each has been wary of being sucked into another unpopular war. Ford (during the Mayaguez crisis) and both Bushes (Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan) deployed massive force, as if to say, "Vietnam, be damned." On the other hand, Carter, Clinton, and Reagan (to the surprise of many) acted with extreme caution, mindful of the Vietnam experience. Obama has also wrestled with the Vietnam legacy, using doses of American firepower in Libya while still engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The authors spent five years interviewing hundreds of officials from every post war administration and conducting extensive research in presidential libraries and archives, and they've produced insight and information never before published. Equal parts taut history, revealing biography, and cautionary tale, Haunting Legacy is must reading for anyone trying to understand the power of the past to influence war-and-peace decisions of the present, and of the future.

Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama

History

Kalb, Marvin

Americas

Brookings Institution Press

The United States had never lost a war—that is, until 1975, when it was forced to flee Saigon in humiliation after losing to what Lyndon Johnson called a "raggedy-ass little fourth-rate country." The legacy of this first defeat has haunted every president since, especially on the decision of whether to put "boots on the ground" and commit troops to war.
In Haunting Legacy, the father-daughter journalist team of Marvin Kalb and Deborah Kalb presents a compelling, accessible, and hugely important history of presidential decisionmaking on one crucial issue: in light of the Vietnam debacle, under what circumstances should the United States go to war?
The sobering lesson of Vietnam is that the United States is not invincible—it can lose a war—and thus it must be more discriminating about the use of American power. Every president has faced the ghosts of Vietnam in his own way, though each has been wary of being sucked into another unpopular war. Ford (during the Mayaguez crisis) and both Bushes (Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan) deployed massive force, as if to say, "Vietnam, be damned." On the other hand, Carter, Clinton, and Reagan (to the surprise of many) acted with extreme caution, mindful of the Vietnam experience. Obama has also wrestled with the Vietnam legacy, using doses of American firepower in Libya while still engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The authors spent five years interviewing hundreds of officials from every post war administration and conducting extensive research in presidential libraries and archives, and they've produced insight and information never before published. Equal parts taut history, revealing biography, and cautionary tale, Haunting Legacy is must reading for anyone trying to understand the power of the past to influence war-and-peace decisions of the present, and of the future.

Elections A to Z (American Government A to Z Series)

Reference

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

CQ Press

The quadrennial edition of this engaging and informative guide highlights the private and public lives of the most celebrated figures in U.S. politics and is now updated to include the results of the 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama. Written in a straightforward style that will appeal to everyone from high school students to presidential historians, this resource includes biographies and photos of every president, vice president, and first lady. The biographies take a closer look at the personal dimensions of these public figures, including information on their early and post-term lives as well as noteworthy events that occurred while in office. Supplemental essays explore the daily life of the president from meetings in the Oval Office to leisurely activities and entertaining at the White House. The significant updates to this new edition include the following: <ul>
<li>Updated information on Former President George W. Bush, Former Vice President Dick Cheney, Former President Bill Clinton, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. </li> <li>New, original biographies of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and First Lady Michelle Obama.</li> <li>Summary of the 2008 presidential election and its racial and gender ramifications.</li> </ul>
In addition to these updates, this resource continues to offer classic reference composition. A detailed index helps readers easily trace names, places, and events from the early days of the presidency to the present. Short introductions for every position plus photos with each biographical entry help you visualize the White House and those who have inhabited it. Whether you use it as a quick look-up reference guide, as a first stop in a research project, or simply as a source to explore the backgrounds and lifestyles of these key U.S. public figures, this is an essential introductory reference work for all school, university, and public library collections.

The Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents: White House Biographies, 1789-2009

Biographies & Memoirs

Diller, Daniel C.

Robertson, Stephen L.

Historical

Off to Join the Circus

Genre Fiction

Loyola College/Apprentice House

Off to Join the Circus focuses on an overly enmeshed, neurotic Jewish family in the Washington, D.C., area, and what happens when a relative returns after 64 years. Adele Pinsky ran away as a teenager back in 1954, perhaps to join a circus. The repercussions from her departure reverberated down the generations, affecting her younger brother, Howard, now a 75-year-old retired lawyer; his educator wife, Marilyn; their three daughters; and their two teenaged grandsons. Adele's reappearance in 2018, at a moment when the family is preparing for the younger grandson's bar mitzvah and the birth of the middle daughter's baby, upends the Pinsky family's assumptions about one another in hilarious and poignant ways.

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Books by Kalb, Deborah