Learn and Have Fun Sharing Presidential Trivia with the Young People in Your Life
In honor of this year's presidential campaign, the NCBLA is posting three presidential trivia questions each week. We encourage you to share the questions before starting the daily homework, while driving to soccer practice, or while cleaning up after dinner. Enjoy!
This Week's Trivia Questions
- Which president was the first to live in the White House?
- Which president was the first to use electricity in the White House?
- Which first lady worked with the Library of Congress to create the National Book Festival, an annual event first held on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2001 designed to celebrate the joy of reading?
Interested in helping young people discover even more about American history, presidents, and civic life? Check out a copy of Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out at your local library or bookstore. An incomparable collection of essays, personal accounts, historical fiction, poetry, and a stunning array of original art, Our White House offers a multifaceted look at America’s history through the prism of the White House.
And for additional articles, resources, activities, and discussion questions, check out the NCBLA's coordinating educational website OurWhiteHouse.org!
Answers and Information for Learning MORE!
- John Adams was the first president to live in the White House. He moved in when it was still unfinished on November 1, 1800. He wrote to his wife the next day, “I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.” These words are now carved in the mantelpiece in the State Dining Room. Learn more about President Adams and the other presidents in the Presidential Fact Files on OurWhiteHouse.org.
- Benjamin Harrison was the first president to use electricity in the White House. However, he and his family were fearful of being shocked, so they refused to touch the light switches and simply left the lights on all the time. Learn more about President Harrison and the other presidents in the Presidential Fact Files on OurWhiteHouse.org.
- Laura Bush. As first lady of Texas and a former librarian, Mrs. Bush established the Texas Book Festival and then worked with the Librarian of Congress to create a national festival when she became first lady of the United States. The National Book Festival is now an annual event held in late September that enables Americans to hear and meet with their favorite authors. To learn more about the history of the National Book Festival, you can read "Mrs. Bush Inspires a National Book Festival" by Dr. John Y. Cole in Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. This year's Book Festival will be held September 22 and 23. For more information, visit LOC.GOV/bookfest.
Literacy + Historic Literacy = Civic Engagement!
