Worst of Friends

October 24, 2011
As in their George Did It, these smartly paired collaborators offer a behind-the-public-persona look at American patriots. In zingy prose, Jurmain tells how Thomas Jefferson and John Adams “were as different as pickles and ice cream” (the former was tall, thin, and quiet; the latter short, round, and loquacious). Yet she emphasizes that the two were best friends who worked together to shape America before parting ways when Jefferson backed the Republicans and Adams the Federalists. Entertaining anecdotes about both presidents’ personal and political lives are energized by Day’s lightly caricatured watercolor cartoons, which flesh out their personalities. Day depicts some scenarios with humorous exaggeration, as when Jefferson grabs Adams’s coattails to keep him from pummeling King George, and Adams stealthily carts his possessions out of the White House on the morning of Jefferson’s inauguration. In a heartwarming denouement, the two end an 11-year silence when Adams pens a conciliatory letter to Jefferson, later admitting, “You... had as good a right to your opinion as I had to mine.” This entertaining and character-driven slice of history also offers a clear message about friendship. Ages 6–8.