White House Photo by Shealah Craighead
Barney & Miss Beazley play with their soccer ball in the snow on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007.
Okay, I admit it.

I was disappointed that there are no new Barney videos on the White House website. It’s as if someone figured out that we don’t want our tax dollars going toward making movies of the president’s Scottish terrier (and his girlfriend Miss Beazley).

It’s silly, but it’s hard not to be curious about presidential pets, which is how I happened upon Barney when I was looking for something else on the White House page ages ago.

So, when a kids book called “Wackiest White House Pets” by Gibbs Davis landed on my desk, I had to take a look. Illustrator David A. Johnson knew what he was doing when he used an alligator chasing a president across the lawn as cover art.

In the book, aimed at 5- to 12-year-olds, we learn that George Washington (of the wooden teeth) made sure his horses’ teeth were brushed.

I have to admit that after flipping through the book, a webpage dedicated to a dog is actually pretty minor when you consider the odd assortment of animals that presidents have been attached to. You can practically do an alphabet book: alligator, bear, cow, deer, elephant, flying squirrel, goldfish, hamsters...

The book teaches kids more about presidents’ personalities than their politics, but the last few pages give a quick summary of their time in office, i.e., Bill Clinton’s eight years was summed up with “During a time of peace and prosperity, Clinton focused on social reforms. He was impeached, but later acquitted by the Senate.”

That’s all we need young kids to know, right?

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