A Family of Readers—And Writers

The old saw goes, "Write what you know." Long before she became First Lady, Laura Bush was a librarian; for two years during her tenure as First Daughter, Jenna Bush worked as a schoolteacher. So naturally their first collaboration as authors—"Read All About It!"—is a children's book set in a library. The two spoke about reading, teaching—and how time flies in the White House—with NEWSWEEK's Jon Meacham.

It's been a long seven years.
LAURA: It's gone by like a flash. I mean, my girls went from freshmen in college to 26-year-old grown women.

What about for you, Jenna?
JENNA: I'm ready for somebody else to be on CNN. I mean, I think [my father has] done a great job. And I admire anybody that would put themselves out there like that. [But] I'm ready for somebody else to try to do it. I'm ready to have my parents back.

Why this book now?
LAURA: Jenna and I have been talking about this book for about a year.

JENNA: She's been a teacher and a children's librarian. That was her career. Now she's a First Lady. So when she started talking about what she would write, this rang the most true, being in the classroom and inspiring kids. That's what she did for so many years.

Growing up, what's your first literary memory?
LAURA: I remember the Little Golden Books. Those were the ones that my mother could afford, that you could buy at the grocery store. But I also remember when she read "Little Women" to me—that's a pretty adult book for a child. But it was a very powerful memory for me. When Beth died, for instance, Mother cried, we cried together. I loved the "Little House on the Prairie" books. I particularly identified with Laura because she had my same name and brown hair and—