Politics these days is discouraging, disappointing and even heartbreaking. To counter the effects of the modern political arena, I pulled out a book I had been sent 16 years ago for review. Simply titled Barack, this illustrated children's book provides a brief biography of the former president.

Issued the year he won his first presidential election, the biography obviously has no details about his eight years in the Oval Office. But it does give a quick, stripped-down account of his early life.

It's short, it's sanitized, and it's lacking in any real detail. You won't come away from reading this very short book knowing much at all about our 44th president. Worse, author Jonah Winter wrote a book that is more tribute than actual biography; it's written in worshipful prose that carries Winter's reverence for Obama on his sleeve.

Even very young readers deserve to read history that's presented fairly and evenly, which this is not.

AG Ford's illustrations are lovely, but again, he paints Obama as an icon rather than a man. It's a little much, and I'm saying that as an Obama fan.

All that aside, it is still a breath of fresh air to be reminded, even briefly, of a time when a presidential campaign was more about hope and promise than insults and fear for our country's future. That part is nice.