President Obama, Sasha and Malia Buy Books for Christmas Gifts

Posted on November 30, 2014

It's become a tradition for the First Family. On Small Business Saturday, President Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia make the trek to an independently owned bookstore in Washington, D.C. This year they visited Washington, D.C.'s Politics & Prose bookstore. It is the second year they have chosen to visit this independently owned bookstore.

The holiday is to promote entrepreneurship and to support small businesses during the busiest shopping weekend of the year. The store was alreay pretty busy: David Baldacci was there doing a reading and talk.

The First Family was accompanies by Secret Service agents while they browsed for books for themselves and for Christmas gifts. They all carried a big pile of books to the counter to pay for it, where the President joked that he hoped his card would go through. Presidents don't usually do their own shopping and have had the problem of their cards not having enough activity to keep them active. But the card worked fine and the purchases were completed.

At the counter Malia and Sasha were looking at Chuck Todd's book called The Stranger which was displayed behind the cashier. The book features a photo of President Obama on it. Malia joked that her dad looked sad in the photo. Her dad agreed saying "Yeah, he's so sad."

The White House released the books they bought. It was a mix of titles, with children's books (Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business by Barbara Park A Barnyard Collection: Click, Clack, Moo and More by Doreen Cronin I Spy Sticker Book and Picture Riddles by Jean Marzollo Nuts to You by Lynn Rae Perkins Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park) and two National Book Award winners (Brown Girl Dreamingd by Jacqueline Woodson and Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos). They also picked up three books by Brian Jacques: Redwall, Mossflower and Mattimeo.

President Obama also picked out adult novels:

• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan,
• The Laughing Monsters by Denis Johnson,
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr,
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and
• Nora Webster by Colm Toibin.

Here is video from the visit: