Barack Obama - Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters

To Michellewhose fierce love and daily good sense have nourished such wonderful daughters

B.O.

To my sons, Griff and Graham

L.L.

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Text copyright 2010 by Barack Obama

Jacket art and interior illustrations copyright 2010 by Loren Long

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

eISBN: 978-0-375-98329-0

The illustrations in this book were created using acrylic on board.

November 2010

FIRST EDITION

Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?

How the sound of your feet

running from afar

brings dancing rhythms to my day?

How you laugh

and sunshine spills into the room?

Have I told you that you are creative?

A woman named Georgia OKeeffe

moved to the desert and painted petals, bone, bark.

She helped us see big beauty in what is small:

the hardness of stone and the softness of feather.

Have I told you that you are smart?

That you braid great ideas with imagination?

A man named Albert Einstein

turned pictures in his mind into giant advances in science,

changing the world

with energy and light.

Have I told you that you are brave?

A man named Jackie Robinson played baseball

and showed us all

how to turn fear to respect

and respect to love.

He swung his bat with the grace and strength of a lion

and gave brave dreams to other dreamers.

Have I told you that you are a healer?

Sitting Bull was a Sioux medicine man

who healed broken hearts and broken promises.

It is fine that we are different, he said.

For peace, it is not necessary for eagles to be crows.

Though he was put in prison,

his spirit soared free on the plains, and his wisdom

touched the generations.

Have I told you that you have your own song?

A woman named Billie Holiday wore a gardenia in her hair

and sang beautiful blues to the world.

Her voice, full of sadness and joy,

made people feel deeply and add their melodies to the chorus.

Have I told you that you are strong?

A woman named Helen Keller fought her way through long, silent darkness.

Though she could not see or hear,

she taught us to look at and listen to each other.

Never waiting for life to get easier,

she gave others courage to face their challenges.

Have I told you how important it is to honor others sacrifices?

A woman named Maya Lin designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorialto remember those who gave their lives in the war,

and the Civil Rights Memorial

to thank the many who fought for equality.

Public spaces should be filled with art, she thought,

so that we can walk amidst it,

recalling the past and inspired to fix the future.

Have I told you that you are kind?

A woman named Jane Addams fed the poor

and helped them find jobs.

She opened doors and gave people hope.

She taught adults and invited children

to play and laugh and let their spirits grow wide.

Have I told you that you dont give up?

When violence erupted in our nation

a man named Martin Luther King Jr.

taught us unyielding compassion. He gave us a dream

that all races and creeds would walk hand in hand.

He marched and he prayed and, one at a time,

opened hearts and saw the birth of his dream in us.