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Fourth of July weekend is upon us, Quirk Nation! Here's to eye-blazing fireworks, epic cook-outs, and all things red, white, and blue! As a Philadelphia-based publisher, we're celebrating our nation's freedom the best way we know how: our books reimagined as the Star Spangled Banner. Check them out and feel free to share your love of country and books! Happy Independence Day! 

I recently had a baby boy, who I named Lincoln. The response I’ve gotten, almost nine times out of a ten is, “That’s a strong name.” It is. Obviously everyone associates it with the sixteenth president (though I’ll be honest, I really got it from a TV show). That said, I figured if you’re going to saddle your kid with a famous name, then you at least need to educate him on his namesake.

Quirk recently released their own book of kid presidents (appropriately named Kid Presidents), and since I’ve recently become very well versed on children’s books featuring American presidents, I figured I’d compile a list of my favorites (and funniest). After-all, President’s Day is almost here!

LOST STATES by Michael Trinklein

KINDLE / NOOK / KOBO / IBOOKSTORE

Everyone knows the fifty winners—but what about the hundreds of other statehood proposals that never worked out? Lost States is a tribute to such great unrealized states as West Florida, South California, Half-Breed Tracts, Rough and Ready, and others.

Here at Quirk Books, we put lots of time and thought into our book covers. And that's why they've won awards and accolades all around the world and in space. But I think we can all agree that one thing would make our amazing covers even better: Me. So here's a glimpse into an alternate universe which is the same as our own, except I appear on every Quirk book cover!

THE SECRET LIVES OF THE U.S. PRESIDENTS by Cormac O'Brien ($3.99)

KINDLE / NOOK / KOBO / IBOOKS

Your high school history teachers never gave you a book like this one! Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents features outrageous and uncensored profiles of the men in the White House-complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright wacko facts. You’ll discover that:

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Sometimes it is grand and beautiful, with great implications about what it means to be human. Sometimes it comes from Twitter.

What if we assigned actors to presidential biopics based on last name alone?

— Blair Thornburgh (@ATallOrder) April 28, 2014

After seeing this tweet from Blair, one of my esteemed editors at Quirk, [Hello! —Ed.] I could not help but throw out name after name. Inspired, I put this post together, complete with shoddily photoshopped MS Painted movie stills. I don’t know about you, but I think at least one of these would be a blockbuster. [OBVIOUSLY. —Ed.] If not, I definitely have some sequels in mind.