Cleveland, Will and Mark Alvarez. Yo, Millard Filmore! (And all those other Presidents you don't know). Illustrated by Tate Nation. Millbrook Press, 1997. ISBN 0-7613-0523-0.”$21.40. 112 pp. Cleveland, Will and Mark Alvarez. Yo, Sacramento! (And all those other State Capitals you don't know). Illustrated by Tate Nation. Millbrook Press, 1997. ISBN 0-7613-0252-2. $21.40. 120 pp.” 3-6 NF Reviewed by Donna J. Jorgensen Yo, Millard Fillmore! is a book about the presidents of the United States, but it is not just a book of facts. The layout of the book is such that the left-hand page of any pair is a paragraph or two about a president, and the right-hand page has cartoon-style illustrations designed as memory aids. The book promises to help you memorize the Presidents, in order, in twenty minutes, and once learned, promises you will remember them forever. Only the cartoons are used for the memorization. For example, George Washington is represented by a washing machine on the White House lawn, big enough to wash a ton of clothes. John Adams is prompted by lifting the lid of the washing machine (mentally) and seeing atoms swirling around in the water. The names of all forty-two presidents are represented by building on the image of the previous president. The first time I sat down with this book, I learned the first ten presidents. A week later I was hiking in Yellowstone and decided to see if I could indeed remember them all. I could. It was fun, painless, and even entertaining. The book includes a quiz after each set of ten names (to reinforce the memory) and a “just for fun” Jeopardy-style quiz about the presidents. For this quiz you have to read the information on the left-hand pages. Yo, Sacramento! is the same format for learning the names of the states, by region of the U.S., and their capitals. I found both books educationally sound and entertaining. I highly recommend them.
