WHEN I'M THE PRESIDENT

In Pillay’s picture book, a young woman lists the positive attributes she’ll display once she’s elected president of the United States.

Across 15 full-page spreads, the narrator, a young, brown-skinned woman, outlines the qualities that she plans to bring to the Oval Office. Each pledge begins, “When I’m the President, I’ll...” and they together comprise a manifesto of positive, forward-thinking leadership. She asserts, for example, that she’ll listen carefully, always be honest, lead in a crisis, and protect the planet. The message is inspirational, even verging on utopian. More cynical adults might note the absence of opposing forces, such as that the narrator will always be honest, even when she makes mistakes, or that she’ll protect the planet, even if it costs her an election. However, this is clearly a book whose primary goal is inspiration. In Ram’s full-color cartoon images, the country’s diversity is well reflected in the characters’ varying skin tones and body types. The most notable feature of the art is its total absence of depictions of older white men, who currently dominate the political scene. Indeed, many of the people depicted are youthful, suggesting that the zest of younger generations may provide the best and perhaps only way forward.

A largely unimpeachable, if unsubtle, vision of the future.