Gift of Peace: The Jimmy Carter Story (ZonderKidz Biography) by Elizabeth Raum

Gift of Peace: The Jimmy Carter Story (ZonderKidz Biography) Reviews

• 
  Andrea Engle

  A presidential biography for the middle-school set, this book lauds former- President Jimmy Carter, one of my heroes … easy to read; long on details; marvelous, historic photos … a delight for all young Americans …
  
  For Older Readers:
  
  by
  
  Thomas R. Flagel
  
  by
  
  Craig Fehrman
• 
  Tallulah A.

  "Gift of Peace: The Jimmy Carter Story" is a biography of James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, Jr, the 39th U.S. president, told from a Christian world point of view (a ZonderKidz* biography). Written for children around middle school level, the book starts with Carter's humble beginnings in Plains, Georgia, follows his path to the White House, and finishes with his present life as a humanitarian. The book highlights how the influence of his Christian faith shaped his decisions over the years. Although I am a former Georgian, I still learned a lot of interesting things about President Carter and his family that I didn't know. I normally steer clear of biographies about modern-day public figures, as I don't really want to know the minutiae of their lives. "Gift of Peace" was an enjoyable and very easy read from my adult POV. It covered the highs and lows with no "t.m.i." to distract me. I may start reading juvenile biographies for ease of use.
  
  As a public figure who is very open about his faith, I think that Jimmy Carter would be pleased with this book.
  
  Recommended for:
  •Christian middle school readers
  •Readers interested in a quick overview on Carter
  
  * Zonderkidz is the children's group of Zondervan, an evangelical Christian publisher.
  
  NOTE: I received a free advance reading copy of this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
  
  From my A. Literary Mafia blog post:
  Gift of Peace: The Jimmy Carter Story [Book Review]
• 
  Lexie

  I recieved this as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
  
  I wasn't aware this was going to be a book recomended for middle school students. So there wasn't a lot of content for me, reading as an adult who enjoys some details and meat in biographies, especially political biographies.
  
  This book also focuses a lot on religion and how that played a role in his presidency. While Jimmy Carter did some great things while in office, I don't agree with letting your religion influence decisions made for a secular office. Seperation of church and state and what not. This book gets a low rating from me because I do not agree that this topic should be glorified for young children possibly reading this book for educational reasons. I don't doubt Carter's religion played a role in his presidency, but children should not be lead to think that it is ok for a president to do so. Had I known the publisher Zonderkidz of Zondervan was a Christian book publisher, I would not have even bothered with this book.
• 
  Andrew

  A brief biography of former president Jimmy Carter, aimed at younger readers. This is definitely a biographical sketch - it does include high points and low points, but will not provide depth on any one incident (and leaves out most due to space and reading level).
  
  
  This is the second biography I've read in the ZonderKids series. The first, about hockey player Mike Fischer, emphasizes the player's faith and how his life revolves around his belief and trust in G-d. This biography also deals with the subject's beliefs, BUT the book reverses the emphasis - showing how the decisions and actions in Mr. Carter's life reflect his Christian roots and beliefs. Both are valid approaches, both end up the same, but my personal preference is the latter (i.e. this book).
  
  
  Disclosure: This book was provided free of charge via the Goodreads FirstReads program. Like other recipients, I did not see a reference that this book was aimed at a younger reader. Hopefully, any online references aimed at future readers / buyers will provide that information.
• 
  Levina Goon

  Won ARC from Goodreads Giveaway.
  Also posted on Amazon.com under Levina G.
  
  Gift of Peace: The Jimmy Carter Story is a middle high school level biography describing Jimmy Carter’s character development from childhood to his presidency and post-presidential life. Much of the book focuses on the theme of establishing peace, either between racial groups or countries, and how his religious beliefs reflected some of his political decisions in his career. I found the book enjoyable to read (even as an adult) as the author included stories of childhood friendships and political campaign anecdotes that illustrated a more personal identification of the man as a compassionate human being. This religious angle the author takes to describe Jimmy Carter’s life I found revelatory and would recommend for young readers as a supplement for secular texts.
  
• 
  Robin

  I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I didn't know what to expect, and I definitely didn't know much about Jimmy Carter, but I was curious to see what the book had to say. I wasn't disappointed. The book was well written and the information progressed in a very logical and ordered way. I found myself easily recalling details from it after I closed it. I also found that the book left me curious to know more about Jimmy Carter and his family. I would give it 5 stars but it's not quite there for me. To me, a five star book is one I'd recommend to anyone and everyone and one I want to read over and over. This book was really good, but I probably won't read it again. However, I would definitely recommend it to people who like biographies or who are curious about Jimmy Carter.
• 
  Shanelle Sorensen

  I received a copy of this book through Goodreads' First Reads, and I enjoyed it. It was on an even easier reading level than I had been expecting, but hey; I didn't know really anything about Jimmy Carter before I read it, so it's still a win-win. It would be a good choice for an early elementary school student that has to be read a biography for a book report. It's plenty short, and I think definitely interesting enough to hold young children's attention. I think it's also a good introduction to biography in general. There were some writing quirks that rather bothered me, but then I am extremely picky about that, and children for whom it is intended would not notice.
• 
  Jerry Landry

  Raum’s Gift of Peace is a book for young adults about the life of our 39th President. I received it as a First Reads giveaway on Goodreads. There is a faith-based slant to this book, but it’s appropriate in a discussion of Carter as his faith does play a large role in his world view and his life. At no point did the book seem preachy, and it presents the facts of Carter’s life in such a way as to be relatable and understandable by young adult readers. Despite a couple of minor grammatical errors, I would recommend this book to pre-teens and teens in order to gain a better understanding of the man from Plains and his role in our nation's history.
• 
  Adele

  When I was a kid. My elementary school has a set of biography books. There was at least a hundred books. They were written for kids, to introduce them to famous people, role models and heros. My favorite was Walt Disney. I always thought I should find books like those for my kids. Books that are easy to read. Books that will introduce them to many different people from different times.
  This is one of those kinds of books. One that I will keep for when they are older to introduce them to Jimmy Carter.
• 
  Kathleen Huben

  A book won on first-reads.
  
  Gift of Peace is an excellent biography of Jimmy Carter, written at the middle school level. I found it very enjoyable and intersting, covering a lot of things I didn't know about Carter and his family. I would inform readers that this is published by a Christian press and so there is some discussion of the importance of his religious beliefs to his life. Considering that former president Carter was always open about his faith and beliefs, I don't think he'd object.
• 
  Donna

  I learned a lot about Jimmy Carter by reading this book. I always admired him, but I do so more now after reading this account. It is a worthy read. He is a man that will always try to do the best he can for everyone. He truly believes that we all are created equal.
  
  I am glad that I won this free book from Goodreads First Reads giveaway. It didn't take me long to read the book and I got a lot out of it. How come we don't have any more good men like Mr. Carter? Thank you Goodreads and Elizabeth Raum for writing the book.
• 
  K

  Gift of Peace: The Jimmy Carter Story is a short and sweet, so to put, biography of former US president Jimmy Carter, primarily at younger readers in Junior High and the likes. The book itself was well written and the information progressed in a very logical and ordered way.
  
  The majority of the biography has a focus on the subject of creating and maintaining peace, and how Carter's religious beliefs resonated and influenced some of his political decisions during his time in office.
  
  A copy of the book was provided via Goodreads Firstreads in return for an honest review.
• 
  Steve

  Disclosure: I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Thanks to the publishers for this opportunity!
  
  Although it's only a small part of this readable Jimmy Carter biography, I especially liked the practical details of how Jimmy Carter campaigned for local office early in his career. It gives anyone who reads this book a realistic sense of how to campaign for election, and helps the reader realize that anyone can run for office in America.
• 
  Liz W

  The writer had the 3rd or 4th grade student in mind when writing this book. I found it to be an excellent history lesson for children. It told the story of Jimmy Carter who was a mild and caring president of the United States. It also touched on President Carter's belief in his religion, his belief in human rights, and his belief in peace. I highly recommend this book to younger students.
• 
  Shannon

  I love to read biographies to see the back stories on people we think we "know"! I find it fascinating how they were raised, etc. I'm excited about the christian aspects of this book! Trying to raise children with a strong christian background and morals is quite a job so I'm looking forward to this and to share with my children since it is geared towards kids!!
• 
  Carolyn

  I won this book through goodreads.com giveaway. I learned things I did not know and was reminded of things I had forgotten about this amazing man. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about Mr. Carter and how he thought during his campaigning and presidency and later. This would be a great tool for a junior high or high school writing a report on a political figure.
• 
  Amber

  I received this book as a goodreads first reads giveaway and like alot of reviewers I noticed, I did not realize this was going to be a middle school book. However I really liked the book and enjoyed learning a bit about our 39th president. I would recommend this to people who are interested in learning about him without having to read a large biography.
• 
  Katrina

  Good Reads Win: I thought I might be interested in this but it just wasn't for me. It was an interesting read. I think because it was aimed at a younger audience I couldn't get into it. If you were more of a middle school or younger age then yeah you would be able to get into it. But for an older audience it's sort of a no not enough details or getting to the gritty and dirty.
• 
  Karen

  I received this book through one of the giveaways. I registered for it not realizing that it was for Young Adult readers. The book was an easy read and gave insight into how President Carter's upbringing influenced his decision making while in the White House. A good book for students studying history/the presidents or for anyone wanting to know more about Jimmy Carter.
• 
  Valerie Kite

  I am on page 57. It came this morning.It is a good read clearly. I enjoyed this thoroughly. I lived in Georgia and my father was a probation officer and knew Carter. This book filled a lot of info about Carter that I did not remmember.
• 
  Wendy

  I bought my daughter similar biographies on Obama and Hillary Clinton during the 08 election and I'm glad that this book came out to get middle readers in touch with one of my heros as a child. It wasn't too dry and I even learned more than I had preiously known about President Carter.
• 
  Logan

  I did not realize this was a children's book when I entered to win it. Nevertheless, it was interesting and I learned a lot more about President Carter. It was just tough to get past the simple writing style and the major focus on God. I think it would be a good book for kids.
• 
  Travis

  This book was good, but as I got farther into it, it became apparent that it is written for a younger audience. That being said it dropped it from 3 stars to 2. In actually I would give it 2.5. This is a good book to get a very brief description of President Carters life, but it lacks many details.
• 
  Tiffani Erickson

  Goodreads Giveaway win.
  I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. Despite it being the uncorrected proof, I liked the story line and was happy to know more about 39th president.
• 
  Jeremy

  The Story of Jimmy Carter was very interesting. The book was a very quick read. The editing was horrible and being that the book was wrote by a teacher I thought was very discerning.
• 
  Virginia

  Couldn't find much about Carter in our library system, so read the "Youth" book. Easy review of his life with little detail. Maybe after he dies there will be a more definitive book available.