"The President Has Been Shot!"

December 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-Marking the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, Swanson's compelling book (Scholastic, 2013) combines riveting narration by Will Patton with excerpts from Kennedy's speeches. Listeners learn about the president's early life, family background, his heroic service during World War II, and his time in the House and the Senate. After narrowly defeating Richard Nixon in 1960, JFK moved into the Oval Office and was tested by the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. By fall of 1963, Kennedy had finally hit his stride and grown into the office. Ready to start campaigning for his 1964 re-election, Kennedy planned his fateful trip to Dallas. Swanson and Patton keep listeners on the edge of their seats with minute-by-minute details about the motorcade's route through Dallas and Lee Harvey Oswald's perch atop the Texas Schoolbook Depository. Though most listeners will already know the sad outcome, it's almost impossible to stop listening to Patton lay it out. A masterfully told piece of history.-Bernie Morrissey, The Harker School, San Jose, CA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 2, 2013
Swanson brings the same immediacy and thrillerlike tension he achieved in Chasing Lincoln’s Killer to this harrowing account of the Kennedy assassination (an adult version, End of Days, will be published later this year). As the subtitle suggests, Swanson concentrates on the buildup to and aftermath of the Dallas shooting on November 22, 1963. After a quick overview of Kennedy’s ascent to and first years in office (including the Bay of Pigs and the Space Race), he shifts between Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald in the days before and after the assassination. Swanson doesn’t avoid the horrific details of the shooting, and he’s open about the failings of well-meaning officials and staffers in the wake of the shooting. There’s no danger of uncovering any sympathy for Oswald, painted by Swanson as “a complaining, self-pitying, attention-seeking, temperamental, impoverished idealogue.” The book’s meticulous design incorporates numerous diagrams and b&w period photographs, and extensive source notes back up Swanson’s work. Even the simple decision to title the book’s chapters by date emphasizes how, in the span of just a few days, America changed irrevocably. Ages 12–up. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment.