Bush Twins Discuss Power Of Sisterhood During Aggieland Stop Of Book Tour

bush twins sit on stage to the right of the moderator — The sisters visited the Texas A&M campus while promoting their new book, “The Superpower Sisterhood.” They spoke to a crowd at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center on April 23.
Abbey Santoro/Texas A&M Division of Marketing & Communications

For former first daughters Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, reading is in their DNA.

“It’s ingrained in us,” Hager said Saturday at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center within the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Center. Their grandmother, former first lady Barbara Bush, had sat on the same stage many times to read to thousands of Texas schoolchildren. Earlier in the day, Hager said, the sisters stopped by the apartment in the conference center where their grandparents stayed during visits to the Texas A&M University campus in College Station.

“We just went upstairs to their apartment, which is the same as it was before they passed away, and I had so much fun looking through their bookshelves,” Hager said. As for the source of her passion for reading, she said, “it’s hard not to love something when the people that you love love it so much.”

The twins shared their own experiences with sisterhood, reading, and growing up in the famous political family during a talk Saturday at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, one of several stops on their tour promoting their latest book, “The Superpower Sisterhood.”

a children's book propped up on a table. the title reads "the superpower sisterhood." — “The Superpower Sisterhood” is the latest book penned by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush.
Abbey Santoro/Texas A&M Division of Marketing & Communications

The book’s main character, an only child named Emma, is based on their mother, former first lady Barbara Bush. One day, two sets of sisters move onto Emma’s street. As part of this new sisterhood, the girls’ individual talents, such as dancing and math, transform into “superpowers” they use to help their neighborhood thrive. The event’s moderator, former Bush speechwriter Mary Kate Cary, said the book’s theme calls to mind one of the 41st president’s most famous beliefs: that “any definition of a successful life must include serving others.”

The twins’ grandparents stood for inclusiveness, civility, selfless service and helping others, said Max Angerholzer, CEO of the George & Barbara Bush Foundation. The entire family continues to follow their example, he said, “none more so than Jenna and Barbara.”

“When you think about that legacy, selfless service is at the top of it, and that’s key to the ethos of Aggieland as well,” Angerholzer said. “It’s so obvious to us why President and Mrs. Bush picked Texas A&M for their presidential library.”