海角大神

Michelle Obama is back on the book tour circuit for her gardening tome, 鈥淎merican Grown." On Tuesday, about 250 people braved a soaking rain to line up outside northwest Washington鈥檚 Politics & Prose bookstore and then file through for an autograph and a few seconds of chat with the nation鈥檚 first lady.

鈥淏uy away. It鈥檚 Mothers Day. It鈥檚 coming up,鈥� said Mrs. Obama, to laughter from the damp crowd. They鈥檇 all purchased an 鈥淎merican Grown鈥� copy as the price of their admission.

鈥淎merican Grown鈥� is a sumptuous picture book, the story of the White House garden. It came out last year and more than 175,000 copies have been printed, according to publisher Random House. It鈥檚 got recipes and stories about other gardens that have inspired Obama, including a scent garden for the visually impaired at a New York City school.

During the appearance Obama admitted that her own daughters really just like to thumb through the book鈥檚 illustrations. She added that, slowly but surely, they鈥檝e started to read the text, as well.

鈥淎nd that鈥檚 really the hope 鈥� that the pictures draw people of all ages in and then they start to read it and maybe start thinking about how to start a garden on their own, because there are many ways to do it,鈥� said Obama.

She noted that if you don鈥檛 have any suitable ground you can use containers. (She didn鈥檛 add that in the Washington area that鈥檚 a particularly good idea, because the natural soil resembles ground-up clay pots.)

Yes, it鈥檚 unusual for an author to still get personal appearances after a book鈥檚 been out 12 months. Mid-list authors with sensitive coming-of-age novels usually don鈥檛 get that treatment. But Random House probably figured that with gardening season just starting, a bit more publicity could push a more 鈥淎merican Grown鈥� hardcover copies out the door. Profits go to the National Park Foundation, the official charity of the national parks.

Nowadays, first ladies just have to churn out books, don鈥檛 they? 鈥淎merican Grown鈥� is the first by Obama, but we bet there are more to come. Every first lady since Lady Bird Johnson has eventually written a memoir of their White House years that received a large printing and full-press publicity, according to Craig Fehrman, an author who鈥檚 been researching a book about presidential books for several years.

This does not mean that books by first ladies are a purely modern phenomenon. The first presidential spouse to see her memoirs published while she was still alive was Helen Taft, whose book came out in 1914, according to Mr. Fehrman. Edith Wilson wrote a popular book. Eleanor Roosevelt was practically a publisher unto herself 鈥� she wrote dozens of tomes, from 鈥淐ourage in a Dangerous World鈥� to 鈥淐hristmas, 1940鈥� and 鈥淚t鈥檚 Up to the Women."

鈥淚n the end, what first lady memoirs may have most in common is popularity. Every such book in the 20^th and 21^st centuries has hit the best-seller lists,鈥� wrote Fehrman in a 2010 New York Times essay on the subject.

This should not be surprising 鈥� first ladies have generally been more popular figures than their husbands, since they don鈥檛 get as involved in controversial policies.

As 鈥淎merican Grown鈥� shows, memoirs aren鈥檛 the only, or even the preeminent, kind of first lady book. The Atlantic Wire has compiled a list of some of the lighter efforts, including Eleanor Roosevelt鈥檚, 鈥淎 Trip to Washington with Buddy and Betty,鈥� written for children in 1935, and Nancy Reagan鈥檚, 鈥淭o Love a Child,鈥� about the foster grandparents program.

And who could forget Barbara Bush鈥檚 dog books, the classic 鈥淐. Fred鈥檚 Story," written when her husband as VP, and 鈥淢illie鈥檚 Book,鈥� written in the White House? They purported to be in the canines鈥� voices, as dictated to their owner.

鈥淏etween 7 and 7:08, the President and I go off to the Oval Office,鈥� wrote Millie in describing her day. 鈥淚 often sit in on the morning briefings.... I overheard the Bushes talking the other night. Some discussion about me keeping a lower profile.鈥�

We鈥檇 have gone the other way 鈥� maybe a higher Millie profile would have eked out a reelection victory for Bush 41 in 1988.