With paper dolls, you can dress up Trump, Clinton, Sanders
Donald Trump draped in a Miss Universe gown? Hillary Clinton holding a tray of cookies? Bernie Sanders grilling in a “Feel the Bern” apron?
Don’t adjust your cable news channel. They’re simply costumes — 11 inches tall — featured in the latest presidential collectible campaign paper doll series from Dover Publications. Dress them up! Mix and match!
The Donald Trump Paper Doll, the Hillary Clinton Paper Doll and the Bernie Sanders Paper Doll books (all by Tim Foley) cleverly play off the candidates’ bios, and each gets 15 outfits. The Trump doll, not surprisingly, inspires the most outré costumes, such as the Statue of Liberty to connote his anti-immigration policies.
Hillary is pictured on the front of her paper doll collection in her famous bright-blue pantsuit, which she’s largely left in the closet lately in favor of pricier designer duds.
Sanders’ wardrobe includes the ensemble he wore as “Bernie Sanders-witzky” on a Saturday Night Live skit with doppelganger Larry David. (What, no “I Will Disrupt the Convention” T-shirt?)
This year’s election is inspiring writers to vote with their pens, with Trump drawing the most interest, flattering or not. Comedian/actor Michael Ian Black pokes fun in A Child’s First Book of Trump, illustrated by Marc Rosenthal (Simon & Schuster), a parody picture book for adults.
In Seussian rhyme, Black introduces the “beasty” called “American Trump”: “Its skin is bright orange, its figure is plump.”
And then there’s Yuge!: 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump by G.B. Trudeau (Andrews McMeel), featuring select panels from the liberal comic strip.
Also bidding for voters’ (and their kids’) attention:
► Trump and Me by Mark Singer (Tim Duggan Books)
A newly updated take on the presumptive Republican nominee by a New Yorker writer.
► Hillary by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Raul Colón (Schwartz & Wade)
Serious children’s book tells Clinton’s life story.
► Crisis of Character by Gary J. Byrne (Center Street)
A critical account by a former Secret Service agent who worked in the Clinton White House.
► The Making of Donald Trump by David Cay Johnston (Melville House, on sale Aug. 2)
A portrait of the candidate by a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist.
►Trump Revealed by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher (Scribner, on sale Aug. 23)
This biography by a team of Washington Post reporters was announced before Trump barred the paper from his campaign events.