So You Want to Be... by Judith St. George

Don't you hate it when you have a long drive ahead, and no recorded book to listen to.  That is the situation I found myself in today.  I spent several minutes looking for a new book, but finally just chose some short children's nonfiction.  They turned out to be a good choice.

Of course, Judith St.George and David Small won a Caldecott medal for their book, "So You Want to be President."  I would guess that the success of that book lead to the creation of these two books.  They all have the same format.  St.George tells interesting facts about Inventors and Explorers, and Small contributes humorous illustrations about the facts.  Although the text about each highlighted figure is brief, St. George manages to make each little paragraph interesting and entertaining.  Some of the facts included are ones I had heard before, but a few were new.  These are the kind of books that I used to leave lying around the house, and then watch and see how many of my kids ended up picking it up and reading it through. 
 (2002/2005, about 54 pages)