Of Thee I Sing: a letter to my daughters

Barack Obama (author)

Loren Long (illustrator)

Random House, Australia: 2010

ISBN: 9780375835278

Genres: picture book

Issues: change, hope, tolerance

‘Have I told you how wonderful you are? How the sound of your feet running from afar brings dancing rhythms to my day? How you laugh and sunshine spills into the room?'

A love letter from a father to his children, Of Thee I Sing is also a love letter to a whole nation of children; a passionate letter that reminds children that the greatest achievers were young, once, and that they, too, can grow up to change the world. Although the examples given - Georgia O'Keefe, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Helen Keller - are American achievers, they are from all cultural and racial backgrounds. This is a book designed both to inspire children to have great aspirations and also to grow in tolerance and acceptance; to recognise that what they do with their lives is more significant than their skin colour, accent, or physical limitations.

Powerful, concise writing carries the reader through the lives of thirteen great achievers, people who overcame difficulties, used their talents and stayed true to themselves. Loren Long's illustrations are equally powerful, their composition designed to echo the trumpet call of the language. Vibrant colours capture snapshots from the lives of the great, images that project their passion for their work, images that reflect how that work grew out of who they were as children; how their early experiences fuelled their determination to change their world. Altogether a quite remarkable book, despite its dominant focus on one nation. What is needed is a book like this for every nation, or one that represents an inspiring array of international figures.

Written before Obama took office as President of the USA, the manuscript acquired from his lawyers, profits from the sale of the book are to be donated to a scholarship fund for the children of fallen and disabled soldiers.