Obama’s kids’ book flies off the shelves

He’s the leader of the free world, and he’s won a Nobel Peace Prize.

But only now, by one measure, is Barack Obama finally truly famous: He’s written a children’s book.

With “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters,” a new picture book for readers 3 and up, the president joins a long list of famous folk who’ve penned children’s books: Madonna, John Travolta, Katie Couric, Will Smith, Paul McCartney, Whoopi Goldberg, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld and Steve Martin, just to name a few.

Even Obama’s secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, wrote one when she was first lady, a book of children’s letters to White House pets.

Obama wrote “Of Thee I Sing” in 2008, after he was elected but before taking office. It is illustrated by Loren Long, whose many credits include writing and illustrating the children’s stories “Otis” and “Drummer Boy.”

The book, published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, sold 50,000 copies in its first five days – making it the fastest-selling picture book in the company’s history.

Obama is donating his proceeds to a scholarship fund for children of disabled and fallen soldiers.

The cover shows a whimsical drawing of presidential daughters Malia and Sasha skipping along with Bo, their beloved dog.

“Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?” the book begins. It proceeds to celebrate 13 American heroes and heroines.

“Have I told you that you are creative?” Obama asks, before describing painter Georgia O’Keeffe, who “helped us see big beauty in what was small.”

Albert Einstein, Obama writes, “turned pictures in his mind into great advances in science.” Jackie Robinson, the pioneering black major league baseball player, “showed us all how to turn fear to respect and respect to love.”

Sioux leader Sitting Bull, he writes, “healed broken hearts and broken promises.” Singer Billie Holiday “sang beautiful blues to the world.”

Hellen Keller “taught us to look at and listen to each other.” Maya Lin designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial “to thank the many who fought for equality.”

Jane Addams, the social reformer and philanthropist, “opened doors and gave people hope.”

Also honored are Martin Luther King Jr., who “gave us a dream that all races and creeds would walk hand in hand,” and astronaut Neil Armstrong, whose lunar leaps “made us brave enough to take our own big, bold strides.”

Cesar Chavez “showed farmworkers their own power when they felt they had none.”

Finally there are two former presidents: Abraham Lincoln, who “promised freedom to enslaved sisters and brothers,” and George Washington, who “helped make an idea into a new country.”

“Have I told you that they are all a part of you?” Obama asks at the end, as he walks off into the distance with his daughters.

It’s not unusual that Obama, a successful author already, would want to write a children’s book. Presidents often like being associated with the cause of literacy, says Leonard S. Marcus, a historian of children’s books.

Theodore Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter wrote books for young people, and John F. Kennedy had a young readers edition of his “Profiles in Courage.”

Marcus likens Obama’s book to a cross between Roosevelt’s book of letters to his children and Kennedy’s book, which emphasized heroes.

The president’s goals in writing it clearly differ, he says, from that of some celebrities, who write children’s books as sort of a publicity stunt.

“It helps get the authors on TV,” says Marcus, author of “Minders of Make-Believe” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008).

“And publishers use these books as a way to lure customers into the bookstores, hopefully to buy something else.”