My Senator and Me: A Dogs-Eye View of Washington, D.C. - Rilegato

Edward M. Kennedy represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for forty-seven years. He took a special interest in matters that involved education and health care for children.

David Small won the 2001 Caldecott Medal for So You Want to Be President by Judith St. George. His many books include The Gardener, The Friend, George Washington’s Cows, Imogene’s Antlers and Hoover’s Bride. He is also the illustrator for Russell Hoban’s The Mouse and His Child. His most recent title is My Senator and Me: A Dog’s Eye View of Washington D.C, written by Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

After receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale, David Small taught drawing and printmaking on the university level for 14 years. He lost his job in the 1980s due to cutbacks. This brought both a crisis and a commitment to begin working on combining his love of art and writing. Submitted to more than 20 publishers, his first book Eulalie and the Hopping Head was eventually published in 1982.

Small works with watercolor, pen and ink, and pastel. His later works have a much softer look, but they continue to include his trademark attention to small details that beg to be poured over again and again. Growing as an artist is important to Small. He feels he has not yet done his best work, and enjoys challenging himself with new ideas, styles and media.

Small lives in Mendon, Michigan, with his wife, the writer Sarah Stewart.

Starred Review. Grade 1-5–Kennedy's introduction to the political process is clear, informative, and loaded with child appeal, in part due to the choice of narrator: his Portuguese Water Dog, Splash. This canine bundle of friendly, panting fun takes readers on a tour of monuments and then describes a typical day: staff discussion of an education bill, a ride in the underground tram between the Senate and the Capitol, a press conference, a committee meeting, and a floor vote. Children will appreciate Splash's joy at the snacks and time for outdoor catch along the way, as well as the strategic Woof when the committee reaches an impasse on the bill. While the swift and tidy resolution is clearly fictional, the actual process is rendered memorable through the presentation. Small's shifting perspectives capture the shimmering lights viewed from a moving tram, the glory of the soaring Capitol rotunda, the heartfelt affection in a beloved dog's eyes. Back matter includes information about Kennedy, Splash, and how a bill becomes a law. With its multicultural cast, nonpartisan viewpoint, and protagonist brimming with personality, this look inside the Beltway is a first choice for classrooms, tourists, and animal lovers everywhere.–Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library
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