l "you guys do look way better than in your pictures, but...are you REAL? Are we ghosts?" "WE are," says George Washington, "but not YOU. Two centuries of listening to tour guides gets tiring. Your deep interest in our house pleases us. Do me the honor, young Sara, of letting me be your guide today."

I set out to write about the White House and all of the very different people who have made this extraordinary building their home. What's interesting about the presidents, to me, is that each man who has held the office is a reflection of their very different Americas over the 200 years since John Adams moved in on the 1st of November 1800. I took my niece, Sara Harness, with me when I went to Washington to gather information for a book that I still wasn't quite sure how to write. What if George Washington had pulled her into his big East Room portrait? What if Sara met all the presidents - the dead ones anyway - all spooking around the White House all at once? What if?