Ellie May on Presidents' Day: An Ellie May Adventure [Paperback]

Just how far will Ellie May go to be chosen as class flag leader during the exciting week leading up to Presidents' Day?

Quirky and funny, second-grader Ellie May enjoys learning about US presidents. But she absolutelylovesthe idea of being class flag leader during the week before Presidents' Day. Tired of not being chosen to hold the flag, she makes it her mission to finally get picked. Along the way, Ellie May ends up karate chopping the class plant when she tries to determine whether George Washington actually chopped down that cherry tree. Next she takes apart the class pencil sharpener when she learns that Abraham Lincoln liked learning how gadgets work. Ellie May may not be perfect like Miss-Know-it-All Ava or calm like her best friend Lizzy, but she's good-hearted and eventually realizes that honesty and patience go a long way.Ellie May wants desperately to be flag leader in class this week, but can she figure out how to please her teacher? Ellie May hasn't been flag leader in months even though she waves her hands enthusiastically every morning to be picked. Her class is learning about U.S. presidents for Presidents' Day, and Ellie May figures that if she can act like a president, maybe Ms. Silva will pick her. Chopping down a class plant so that she can tell the truth about it, as George Washington supposedly did, doesn't work. (Ava, know-it-all-turned-friend, and Ms. Silva both explain that the cherry-tree story is a myth.) Taking apart the class pencil sharpener because Abraham Lincoln liked taking gadgets apart completely backfires. When she owns up to her actions though, she is surprised by the results. The classroom is ethnically diverse—Ellie May, Ava, and Mo appear black (notably, Ava has a dark skin tone); the teacher presents as white. While the text clarifies that presidents were just people, the uncritical glorification of historical presidents by black kids (who would have been treated poorly by them) seems a little oflƒ½