Mara, Wil. James Garfield.

Mara, Wil.     James Garfield.        Marshall Cavendish/Benchmark, 2012.  96p. $27.42.  ISBN 978-1-60870-183-4   elm/ms VG                 

James Garfield is a well-written book geared toward upper-elementary and middle-school student researchers. Mara provides readers with biographical data from Garfield's beginnings as a child in Ohio through his years in office.  He includes important events such as Garfield's college years at Williams College, his marriage to Lucretia Rudolph, and various career choices -- including teacher, Eclectic Institute’s school president, public speaker, politician, Ohio state senator, Civil War colonel, U.S. Congressman, and eventually the president of our great country.    There is a great deal of information leading up to Garfield’s presidential win in 1880 and assassination in 1881 by Charles Guiteau.  Even though Garfield’s presidency was short, the author presents readers with his often overlooked legacy. 
The book includes primary historical documents, color and black and white photographs, a chronolog, a glossary, a list of books and web sites for further reading, and a great comprehensive index.  It is part of the series Presidents and Their Times, each title of which examines the period and formative events of an individual president's term, and includes childhood character-building experiences, entry into politics, major events of the presidency, and a life after the presidency.         

Subject: Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881.               Charleen Forba-Mayer

30 Garfield years of laughs and lasagna. by Jim Davis

Davis, Jim. 30 Garfield years of laughs and lasagna.
Ballantine (Random), 2008, 287p, $29.95, 978-0-345-50379-4.


In this collector’s edition, Jim Davis presents his best work, divided into 3 decades. Garfield has never been funnier as he faces life’s pressures with his usual sarcasm and wit.
The reader will recognize this book instantly by its cover. One sees a fat, orange and black cat with trademark white eyes and yellow whiskers. Garfield is blunt, lazy and sarcastic. What more is there? Jim Davis interrupts every few pages with a story or anecdote or sketches to explain his successes and failures. In each cartoon, the reader will make a connection. It may not be personal, but everybody definitely knows somebody who acts, thinks or eats like Garfield. Garfield generally wins, except when he eats Jon’s sweat sock, thinking that it’s a crescent roll, or when he eats a stack of cookies, only to realize that the last cookie is a coaster. One will only marvel that Jon and Odie have survived 30 years with Garfield! The book is divided into three parts representing each of the three decades since Garfield’s initial appearance, and each decade is prefaced with an introduction by Jim Davis himself. Small Garfield icons mark each page number for a colorful, well-organized, wonderful collection. In 1996, Garfield became worldwide when Jim David launched his website, Garfield.com. In addition, Garfield himself has kept up with the times, becoming an Internet user in order to get an early morning cup of coffee. There is even a foundation, which promotes literacy in the name of Garfield, the Professor Garfield Foundation! Garfield has evolved over the years and that is why he is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Davis explains that he wanted to create a realistic, non-talking cat, and that’s why Garfield always communicates through his thoughts. America bought it, and it has survived! Davis ends the book with his 30 favorites, explaining the inspiration for each one. This collection is, as Garfield says, “A big, fat hairy deal.” MS