Your Presidential Fantasy Dream Team

May 16, 2016
O’Brien revises his 2014 book for adults, How to Fight Presidents, for a younger audience, excising some of that book’s more risqué content while highlighting daring or otherwise remarkable exploits of America’s former Commanders in Chief. Readers are invited to build their own Dream Team of Presidents “to defend the planet or... pull off some kind of grand scheme,” but the book is largely devoted to snarky profiles of deceased presidents from Washington to Reagan. O’Brien takes a no-holds-barred approach to describing each man’s strengths, weaknesses, and reputation: “Andrew Jackson... was a whole lot of things, and all of them were crazy.” Rowntree’s over-the-top illustrations picture ratchet up the humor even more, picturing Ronald Reagan dressed as Wolverine from the X-Men and F.D.R. piloting a battle-ready wheelchair with spikes. Ages 10–up.