Illustrator Maira Kalman follows up her 2012 book about Lincoln (Looking at Lincoln) with a look at another president, Thomas Jefferson. Once again, the narrator’s voice is memorable and spunky, but while the Lincoln book had a childlike narrator, this book sounds like your quirky Aunt Edna telling you stuff:

But wait. We have not spoken of the Founding of America.

It’s a good choice for a biography tackling the confusing inconsistencies of Jefferson the visionary, the patriot, the slaveholder, and the philanderer.

The book competently guides its reader on a tour of Jefferson’s life. It’s organized by theme, each group of spreads looking at a different facet of Jefferson’s interests, passions, or accomplishments. There’s no bibliography and no source notes, but the real treat is Kalman’s candy-colored illustrations.

And Aunt Edna’s not a bad tour guide for a visit to a remarkable and troubling life.

Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Everything by Maira Kalman. Nancy Paulsen Books: 2014.