Synopsis
This book in the Snapshots: Images of People and Places in History series introduces young readers to the First Lady, activist, UN delegate, world traveler and writer who led such an inspiring life.
Children's Literature
It is easy to be inspired by the indomitable Mrs. R (as readers learn Eleanor Roosevelt's friends called her). This book, brimming with photographs and short blocks of text, is perfect for middle readers turned off by text-heavy traditional biographies. In 32 pages, it manages to tell the basic narrative of Roosevelt's life, to convey her contributions to American history and to the progress of women in the nation's life, and to impart fascinating nuggets of information. Readers learn of Roosevelt's privileged yet precarious childhood (both her parents died before she was a teenager), of her social insecurity, and of her tremendous energy, much of which was channeled into efforts to make her country, and the world, a better place. Roosevelt's relationship with her husband, thirty-second president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is presented sensitively, without whitewashing the couple's marital difficulties. The author makes good use of quotations from Roosevelt's writings and talks. "Learn from the mistakes of others," she said; "You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." Photographs are dynamic and revealing, as befits this addition to the publisher's "Snapshots" series of biographies.