Freshman for President

by: Ally Condie

Freshman for President is a delightful book that I've been reading the last few days. It is about a fifteen year old boy who runs for president of the United States after only his freshman year of high school. After his school elections were canceled because the principal felt it was too much of a popularity contest, Milo with the help of his friends Eden, Paige, and Jack put together and carry out a campaign that is entirely made up of suggestions from other teens just like them. It is entertaining and well written and caught me laughing out loud during parts of it.

In the book, Milo Wright is the youngest presidential candidates the United States has ever seen. He knows that he will not be able to take office if he were to win because of the rule that you have to be 35 to be elected president, but he runs as an unofficial candidate in order to make a difference in the lives of teenagers all across America. His stance is to get the young people of he country, the nation's future leaders, involved and to get their voices heard.

Everyone knows some stuffy kid who thinks he knows everything there is to know about politics. What I like about this book is that Milo is not like that. He's just an average, everyday, normal kid who has never run for anything in his life.

The characters in Freshman for President are so relevant to everyday life. Although not everyone can relate to every character all the time, I think most people have periods of time where they have some Milo, Eden, Mr. Walsh, or even some Maura in them. There are times when we feel frustrated and wonder if what we're doing really matters in the long run. Or when the feeling of inadequacy rushes over us so much that we don't want to keep doing what we're doing and we hide our feelings and build a wall around our emotions.

But it's not winning or losing that makes us who we are. It's the lessons we learn along the way.