The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024

On Monday, September 30, at 7 PM at the Cape Henlopen High School Theatre HBF hosted a Community Event with Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024), a book written for middle-grade readers but with appeal to history lovers of all ages.

About the book
In her first book for young readers, #1 New York Times bestselling author, Pulitzer Prize winner, and leading historian Doris Kearns Goodwin examines the lives of four former presidents — Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson — beginning when they were young, tracing their unique trajectories and their troubles, trials and triumphs to show how they grew up to become among the finest leaders in our country’s history.

These four presidents came from very different worlds — Lincoln was poor and self-educated; Theodore Roosevelt hailed from an elegant home in the heart of New York City; Franklin Roosevelt loved the outdoors surrounding his family’s rural estate; and Lyndon Johnson’s modest childhood home had no electricity or running water. What did these four kids have individually — and in common — that helped them to lead America through some of its most turbulent times?

For this book aimed at middle-grade students, Goodwin drew inspiration from her bestselling book for adults, Leadership: In Turbulent Times. The Leadership Journey examines how four future presidents cultivated their innate and acquired abilities, with the hope that young readers will see in themselves similar potential and learn how to hone their own leadership qualities.

The Leadership Journey was illustrated by Amy June Bates.

About the author
Doris Kearns Goodwin is considered the best-known and most admired presidential historian of our time. She is the author of several bestselling and award-winning books, including Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream; No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: the Homefront in World War II; Team of Rivals; The Bully Pulpit; Leadership: In Turbulent Times; and An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s.

Goodwin was in conversation with Tariah Hyland at the event.

Tariah Hyland is studying political science and legal communications at Howard University in Washington. A Wilmington resident, Tariah was selected by the Del. Department of State for the 2023 John Lewis Youth Leadership award.

About the event
Our Closing Event was funded through the generous support of the Delaware Community Foundation.

A portion of the proceeds benefited the History Book Festival, helping to provide free literary programming for people of all ages.

About the author
Doris Kearns Goodwin is considered the best-known and most admired presidential historian of our time. She is the author of several bestselling and award-winning books, including Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream; No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: the Homefront in World War II; Team of Rivals; The Bully Pulpit; Leadership: In Turbulent Times; and An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s.

Purchase the book
If you’d like to purchase a copy of the book, please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices | PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2024 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. Our Keynote event is presented by Sally Mott Freeman and John K. Freeman, and our Closing event is presented by Griswold Home Care for Sussex and Kent Counties. Saturday’s Spirited Discussion, our gathering for attendees and presenters to celebrate and discuss their day, is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our Founding Program Partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library, for event promotion and production, and Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Thanks also to: the  Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Additional thanks to our community partners: CAMP Rehoboth, Delaware Historical Society, Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center,  Historic Lewes Farmers Market, Lewes Historical Society, Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth Beach Film Society, Seaside Jewish Community, and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).