Meghan Powers is mostly happy and comfortable with her life. She lives in Massachusetts with her father and her two younger brothers. Her mother, a high-profile Senator, is away from home most of the time -- and though it's hard on every member of the family, it is what it is, and they're all used to it.
But now everything is about to change. Because Meg's mother is running for president.
Although The President's Daughter originally came out back in 1984, it didn't appear on my radar until the recent reissue. Wow, was I missing out -- it's a fantastic, fantastic book, I adored it unreservedly and I'm now dying to read the next three books, along with anything else Ellen Emerson White has written*. Grocery lists, even. I'll read her grocery lists.
I suspect I'm going to have a difficult time doing anything other than gush here.
I loved that this was a book not just about the Powers family adjusting to being in the spotlight 24/7 and the idea that every single thing they do in public now has political ramifications (even more than usual), but also about the dynamics of the family itself. Meg isn't just adjusting to being the 16-year-old daughter of the first female president, to living a new city and attending a new school, she's also adjusting to living with her mother for an extended period of time. Despite how much I loved the interaction between all of the family members, between Meg and her best friend (they're hilarious) and between the Powers family and the campaign staff, it was Meg herself and her relationship with her mother that was the center of the book for me.
I loved that Meg -- even though she wishes her mother wasn't a politician, let alone President -- keeps herself extremely up-to-date on politics and is constantly reading about the history of politics. She does it partially because it makes it easier on her, yes, but it's also because she wants her knowledge, her behavior, to reflect well on her mother. And I loved that even though Meg and her mother have some serious relationship issues, they genuinely enjoy each other -- the opening scene where Meg asks her for a martini just killed me, and that was the moment I knew I was going to love the book.
Since I haven't read the original, I can't compare the two. I do know that the text was updated to bring the story into the present day, but I don't know the specifics for sure, though it's easy enough to guess what they are -- the mentions of Iraq, 9/11, DVDs and the internet certainly wouldn't have been in the 1984 edition. She kept a lot of the pop culture references, just throwing in a bit about how Meg had 'retro' tastes. Oddly enough, though, I thought the prose itself had kind of a '60s feel -- I kept thinking it felt like Louise Fitzhugh'd written about an older teen. I did think that odd sixties feel and the mentions of current events clashed a bit, but it was definitely not a serious enough clash to affect my glowing and sparkly opinion of the book as a whole. It's a book I would have read over and over and over again when I was in my early teens.
Oh, and as usual, Feiwel & Friends should be commended for the design and cover art -- I'm usually pretty low-key about mix and matching different editions, just as long as I have the complete story -- this is one of the rare instances in which I'll need a matched set.
_____________________________________________________
*Okay, I might have to skip the Santa Paws series.
I started this book on the bus this morning, and I missed my bus stop by almost a mile. So I'm with you on the gushing.
Posted by: Laura | 09 January 2009 at 01:11 PM
Ellen Emerson White rules. Looking forward to your thoughts on the rest of this awesome series. Oh, and you really need to read THE ROAD HOME. :)
Posted by: Angie | 09 January 2009 at 01:22 PM
I read this in 1984! When you mentioned it on your site a while back, I wondered if it was the same book. I wish I still had my copy. Does Meg befriend a Black girl in her new school? I think I remember that from The President's Daughter.
Posted by: Laura | 09 January 2009 at 03:42 PM
They're out of print and really hard to find, but the four Echo Company books about the Vietnam War she wrote under the pen name of Zack Emerson are amazing. The Road Home is a follow-up to those and one of my all-time favorite books.
Posted by: Sarah | 09 January 2009 at 04:08 PM
It's official: everyone on the entire planet loves this book, except for me. I started reading it but got bored and quit somewhere around the pre-election family ski vacation . Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
Posted by: Elizabeth | 09 January 2009 at 04:15 PM
Loved this book back when-- I remember asking my mom for a martini after reading it, as I was curious what it would taste like. I can't wait to read the new version.
Posted by: Lorin | 09 January 2009 at 04:42 PM
Loved this book back when-- I remember asking my mom for a martini after reading it, as I was curious what it would taste like. I can't wait to read the new version.
Posted by: Lorin | 09 January 2009 at 04:45 PM
Sorry about the double post! I don't know how that happened!
Posted by: Lorin | 09 January 2009 at 04:47 PM
Read The Road Home, and then if you can get your hands on the Echo Company books, they're just gravy.
I haven't read the new editions of the Meg series, but I did read the fourth book when it came out a year or so ago. The main difference between the 80s and the 00s is not the Internet. It's the espresso.
Posted by: Laurie | 09 January 2009 at 10:04 PM
I've never heard of this one before but I think I'm going to check it out on Amazon. It looks really good!
Posted by: Harmony | 10 January 2009 at 09:40 AM
Life without Friends by EEW is another must-read. If you want to be totally OCD about it, read both Friends for Life and Life Without Friends before reading Book 4 of the Meg Powers series. Characters from both appear in that book.
Also? I think there is a Santa Paws/Road Home/AllEmergenciesRingSuper link. Very obscure, with grown up Rebecca as someone's doctor?
Posted by: Liz B | 11 January 2009 at 07:38 PM
I love these so much. I've got an ILL out on the Vietnam ones, and a purchase request out for the middle two in this series. I don't know why my library only bought the 1st & last...but waiting will increase (my already ridiculously high) love?
Posted by: Jackie Parker | 11 January 2009 at 08:06 PM
I have an old copy of her teen love story Romance Is A Wonderful Thing. I reread it whenever I need a fix of completely natural teen dialogue.
Posted by: Melissa | 11 January 2009 at 08:09 PM
I absolutely loved LONG MAY SHE REIGN and I have to go back and read the rest of these--Meg is AWESOME, and the details are so vivid and real.
Posted by: Melissa Walker | 18 January 2009 at 09:39 PM
I read the first one in the 80's. I didn't know there were more until last month. The first one just stayed in my head for some reason. I was so excited to find out there was more to read. I just raced through WHITE HOUSE AUTUMN and have the other two on order at the library. I am really looking forward to more of Meg. :)
Posted by: Jennifer K | 11 March 2009 at 09:28 PM
i read part of the new version in a bookstore probably a year ago, and it just was stuck in my head since then. i finally went to the library to get the rest of them a few weeks ago and i officially love the entire series!
Posted by: emily | 31 May 2010 at 02:28 PM
Live and let live.*
Posted by: chaussure de basket | 27 November 2010 at 11:02 PM
Live and let live.*
Posted by: chaussure de basket | 27 November 2010 at 11:02 PM