Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “remarkable insights for young people” are detailed in a new youth edition of her book True Gretch that’s set for publication eight days after the presidential inauguration.
True Gretch, Young Adult Edition, will hit shelves on Jan. 28, 2025 through Simon & Schuster’s Atheneum Books for Young Readers, which promises the reworked memoir is “packed with remarkable insights for young people wishing to make a difference in the world.”
“My goal with True Gretch -Young Adult Edition is to help readers find the good and use it to make a difference in their own lives,” Whitmer told PEOPLE “in an exclusive quote.” “There’s no group for whom this is more true than young people. Their new ideas, fresh perspectives and desire to make their communities even better is just what we need right now. I hope this guide helps them as they navigate all the challenges they face, both big and small, and ‘get stuff done.’”
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Whitmer’s True Gretch, released in July, follows her career as a lawmaker and attorney to the governor’s mansion, where she presided over government lockdowns during the pandemic that sparked widespread protests. The book, which was released amid the uncertainty of Joe Biden’s candidacy, also details her perspective on an alleged kidnapping attempt motivated by her pandemic edicts.
The new young adult edition “includes new content, like a Q&A with Whitmer’s teenage daughters and additional resources relating to gun violence and sexual assault,” PEOPLE reports.
The timing of the new release raises questions about the governor’s focus after the 2024 election, and who she anticipates will be sworn into office as the 47th POTUS on Jan. 20, with some political observers likely to view the release as a hedge against a Kamala Harris loss and Trump presidency.
Whitmer is, after all, regularly discussed as a promising presidential candidate for Democrats and she’s made no efforts to dissuade the fawning.
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While True Gretch briefly appeared in best seller lists, the book was met with some ridicule as Whitmer touted the tome in media interviews and late night TV appearances.
“A lot of times, a memoir from a politician is a trial balloon for a presidential run, and I’m just curious at what point in the last 12 days did you write this?” Stephen Colbert asked Whitmer in July, just days after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate against former President Donald Trump.
“You know, it’s easy to write a book and get it published,” the governor remarked.
“It’s slender,” Colbert said as he flipped through the book and the audience roared. “It’s slender. You could have shouted into a Dictaphone on the way to work.”
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There were similar jabs from Hour Detroit.
“There’s a line in the acknowledgments of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s bestselling memoir, True Gretch, that gives away the game. It’s page 157 — the actual book is 156 small pages that include several blanks and a recipe for clover rolls — where she thanks her ghostwriter, Lisa Dickey,” a book review read.
“’With her guidance and skill, we wrote the book we wanted in record time,’ the Democrat says.”
Hour Detroit also zeroed in on the obvious questions prompted by the effort to promote the “brand known as Gretchen Whitmer.”
“What’s next for that brand? Will she fun for the White House after she leaves office in 2026? The excruciating care Whitmer takes here to be milquetoast and inoffensive suggests that she obviously will. What other purpose would there be for Whitmer to write this weak sauce and rush it to print?”