Obama children's book `Of Thee I Sing' out Nov. 16

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Obama children's book `Of Thee I Sing' out Nov. 16

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:18:22 AM EDT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_CHILDRENS_BOOK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-09-13-21-54-31

NEW YORK (AP) –– Coming two weeks after Election Day, a book
from President Barack Obama for some of the nation's nonvoters:
inspirational stories for children about American pioneers.

"Of
Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters" is a tribute to 13
groundbreaking Americans, from the first president, George Washington,
to baseball great Jackie Robinson to artist Georgia O'Keeffe. It will be
released Nov. 16 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint
of Random House Children's Books, which will officially announce the
new work Tuesday. Knopf declined to identify the other 10 subjects.

Obama
is not the first president to write for young people. Jimmy Carter's
"The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer" was published in 1995, more than a
decade after he left office. More in line with Obama's effort, Theodore
Roosevelt collaborated with Henry Cabot Lodge on "Hero Tales from
American History," released in 1895, before Roosevelt was president.

Obama's
book is illustrated by Loren Long, whose many credits include Watty
Piper's classic "The Little Engine That Could," Randall de Seve's "Toy
Boat" and Madonna's "Mr. Peabody's Apples." Long wrote and illustrated
the children's stories "Otis" and "Drummer Boy." His cover design for
"Of Thee I Sing" is a sunny impression of presidential daughters Sasha
and Malia Obama walking their dog, Bo, along a grassy field.

Random
House children's president and publisher Chip Gibson lauded the new
Obama book, which is intended for readers ages 3 and up.

"It
is an honor to publish this extraordinary book, which is an inspiring
marriage of words and images, history and story," Gibson said Monday in a
statement. "'Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters' celebrates the
characteristics that unite all Americans - the potential to pursue our
dreams and forge our own paths."

Obama's
40-page book will have a first printing of 500,000 copies and a list
price of $17.99. Both of Obama's previous works, the memoir "Dreams From
My Father" and the policy book "The Audacity of Hope," are million
sellers published by Crown, a division of Random House Inc.

The
president will donate any author proceeds to "a scholarship fund for
the children of fallen and disabled soldiers serving our nation," the
publisher said in a statement.

Obama agreed
with Random House in 2004 to write a children's book, which, according
to the publisher, he completed before he became president. "Of Thee I
Sing" is part of a $1.9 million, three-book deal with Random House
reached in 2004, according to a disclosure report filed in 2005, when
Obama was a U.S. senator from Illinois. The other two books were
nonfiction.

A financial disclosure form
released by the White House in May 2010 refers to an agreement -
originated in 2004, amended on Jan. 9, 2009, shortly before Obama became
president - for a "nonfiction work, the subject to be determined," that
would not come out while he was in office.

The
children's book and the nonfiction work are separate projects, although
both are part of the three-book deal, said Obama's literary
representative, Washington attorney Robert Barnett. The other nonfiction
book was "The Audacity of Hope," released in 2006.

Neither Barnett nor the publisher would comment on the timing of the new book's release.

Obama
also had a $500,000 agreement with Random House in January 2009 for an
abridged young-adult edition of "Dreams of My Father" to be "prepared
and released by the publisher subject to the president's approval,"
according to the disclosure form.

Knopf
spokeswoman Noreen Herits declined to say if Obama would promote his
children's book or whether it would be available in audio or digital
formats, although an official with knowledge of the book said an
e-edition would come out simultaneously with the print version. The
official was not authorized to publicly discuss the project and asked
not to be identified.

The e-book is unlikely
to be available on Amazon.com's Kindle reader, the most popular
e-device, which does not allow for illustrated texts. Random House does
not currently sell books directly through the Apple iPad store, but in a
separate announcement Monday the publisher said it had begun a
partnership with the Seattle-based digital company Smashing Ideas to
work on children's books apps for electronic devices, including the
iPad.

Obama's original agreement for the children's book includes a royalties scale for an audio books edition.

Numerous
books by and about presidents are scheduled for the fall, including
Carter's White House diaries, biographies of Washington and Roosevelt
and George W. Bush's "Decision Points," which arrives a week before "Of
Thee I Sing" and will be published by Crown.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:22:15 AM EDT

[#1]

I'm sure it was written when he was off the clock Maybe while on vacation.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:22:17 AM EDT

[#2]

And the Ebook version will not be available on Kindle. It will only be readable on Teleprompter.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:24:49 AM EDT

[#3]

What page does it say " I don't want you punished with a baby" on?

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:29:34 AM EDT

[#4]

Sounds like only his daughters should read it then.

Two copies it is.

ETA: Who want to bet Zero wins a Pulitzer for this before it even hits the shelves? Any takers?

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:36:42 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
I'm sure it was written when he was off the clock Maybe while on vacation.

I doubt it, it would have been a 3 volume set if he had done that.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:40:22 AM EDT

[#6]

Oh. My. God.

I just threw up a little...

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:55:03 AM EDT

[#7]

Posted: 9/14/2010 3:24:24 AM EDT

[#8]

I'll be sure to rush out to Borders and pick that steaming pile of shit, and wasted wood pulp, right up.

Posted: 9/14/2010 3:33:22 AM EDT

[#9]

I wonder if the Koran burning pastor wants to pick up a few copies of this one as well

Posted: 9/14/2010 3:49:41 AM EDT

[#10]

Posted: 9/14/2010 3:52:42 AM EDT

[#11]

That guy hates white people

Posted: 9/14/2010 4:01:21 AM EDT

[#12]

The president will donate any author proceeds to "a scholarship fund for the children of fallen and disabled soldiers serving our nation," the publisher said in a statement.

Does that mean all proceeds or are author proceeds only part of the sale?

Posted: 9/14/2010 4:27:09 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
I'm sure it was written when he was off the clock Maybe while on vacation.

He probably didn't write it himself.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:29:03 AM EDT

[#14]

Isn't that sweet. By the way......Fuck that mongrel Kenyan bastard.

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:43:56 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I'm sure it was written when he was off the clock Maybe while on vacation.

He probably didn't write it himself.

Ghost written by his old friend Billdo, I am sure.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:48:55 AM EDT

[#16]

My favorite part of the cupcake, "of ...the icing."

TRG

Posted: 9/15/2010 5:55:51 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Sounds like only his daughters should read it then.

Two copies it is.

ETA: Who want to bet Zero wins a Pulitzer for this before it even hits the shelves? Any takers?

Beat me to it. No bet from me!

CMOS

Posted: 9/15/2010 6:06:17 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
His cover design for "Of Thee I Sing" is a sunny impression of presidential daughters Sasha and Malia Obama walking their dog, Bo, along a grassy field.

Took some liberties with the waistline I see.