The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President

A New York Times bestseller!

From #1 New York Times bestselling author, Pulitzer Prize winner, and leading historian Doris Kearns Goodwin comes an essential middle grade guide to Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson and how they became leaders.

All four presidents profiled grew up and lived in 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. So how did each of them do it--rise to become President of the United States? What did these four kids have individually--and have in common--that catapulted them to lead America through some of its most turbulent times?

Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 10/21/2025
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 8.50h x 6.40w x 1.00d
ISBN13: 9781665925730
ISBN10: 1665925736
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States | General

About the Author
Doris Kearns Goodwin's work for President Johnson inspired her career as a presidential historian. Her first book was Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. She followed up with the Pulitzer Prize-winning No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Homefront in World War II. She earned the Lincoln Prize for Team of Rivals, in part the basis for Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln, and the Carnegie Medal for The Bully Pulpit, about the friendship between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Her bestselling Leadership: In Turbulent Times was the inspiration for the History Channel docuseries on Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt, which she executive produced. Her most recent book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, provides a front-row seat to the pivotal people--JFK, LBJ, RFK, and MLK--and events of this momentous decade.

Amy June Bates is the author-illustrator of The Big Umbrella and The Welcome Home. She is also the illustrator of the New York Times bestseller The Leadership Journey by Doris Kearns Goodwin; Sweet Dreams and That's What I'd Do, both by singer-songwriter Jewel; Waiting for the Magic by Patricia MacLachlan; Joey: The Story of Joe Biden by Dr. Jill Biden; and many others. She has three children and lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with her husband and her devilishly handsome Labrador, Mr. Mochi.