AMAZING FACTS

A quick flurry of family stories, anecdotes, and career milestones from the life of 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Fluffing up the content with four entries about George Washington, seven about the White House, and further “amazing facts” ranging from the tangential to the banal (“Kamala often needed Band-Aids on her knees when she fell over!” “The Capitol Building’s dome is HUGE”), Gifford dishes up a quick-turnaround buffet of facts about his subject’s background, personal interests, and career, selected to offer humanizing glimpses of Harris’ public and private persona. Along with references to her two college degrees, her favorite brand of sneakers, and what she had for lunch during an official 2021 visit to Singapore, readers will learn that her parents divorced when she was 7, that she struggled to learn French in school in Montreal, and that she had to take the bar exam twice to pass. Coverage of her 2024 presidential campaign ends with her August selection of running mate Tim Walz (who gets three facts). The author closes with a spritz of motivational Kamalisms, from “eat no for breakfast” to “double up your efforts and go for your dream!” An early view of her in a stroller shouting “Fweedom!” captures the saccharine character of the monochrome illustrations, but there is plenty of racial and cultural diversity in the crowd scenes.

Topical, if ephemeral.