DK Biography: Eleanor Roosevelt: A Photographic Story of a Life

by Kem Knapp Sawyer

Book Overview

DK's Biography series for young readers features one of the best-known and most inspiring women of the 20th century -- Eleanor Roosevelt. A biography of the First Lady who, despite her shyness,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756614961
• ISBN13: 9780756614966
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 10 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 12

Customer Reviews

A wonderful illustrated biography on Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady of the World

I doubt that Eleanor Roosevelt will be as well remember and beloved in the 21st century as she was in the 20th, which is a shame because she is the one who created the new role model of the First Lady that the likes of Hilary Clinton are trying to build on. As the longest serving First Lady (1933 to 1945), she promoted the New Deal of her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as Civil Right. After FDR's death, Eleanor was a leader in forming the United Nations and chaired the committee that drafted and approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. President Harry S Truman called her "The First Lady of the World," a honor that she clearly deserved for her work to end discrimination and promote civil rights, spreading goodwill wherever she traveled. In this DK Biography by Kem Knapp Sawyer, young readers will learn how Eleanor Roosevelt was born into a world of privilege where women were taught not to be outspoken, and ended up becoming a spokesperson for the rights of women and minorities. As a photographic story of a life, "Eleanor Roosevelt" supplements the biography with over 100 photographs, artworks, and artifacts. I do not know if young readers will be able to appreciate this, but Sawyer does an excellent job on the early part of Eleanor's life before she meets her future husband (and cousin) Franklin. These early chapters look at how her family had encouraged her to spent time with those less fortunate, and has a fascinating section on how Eleanor was uncomfortable in visiting her cousin Alice, daughter of her Uncle Ted (as in Theodore Roosevelt), who was in so many ways everything Eleanor was not, but also much of what she would become. Then we get to one of the oddest love triangles in American political history, when Franklin weds Eleanor over the strong objections of his domineering mother (I swear they echo this on purpose on "Gilmore Girls," with Emily, Richard and his mother, especially since Richard is played by Edward Hermann who played Franklin in the "Eleanor & Franklin" mini-series opposite Jane Alexander). That leads to FDR's political aspirations and the shock of his being crippled by polio. While that did not derail his political career, which would lead him to the Governor's mansion in Albany and then the White House, what it did change was Eleanor's role in that life, as she became her husband's eyes and ears. More importantly, as Sawyer points out, Eleanor found that she cared deeply about the issues facing America and that she enjoyed confronting them head-on. The second half of the book covers the rest of Eleanor's life, but with an emphasis on what she did to change the world for the better. Sawyer does an excellent job of showing how the little girl who was considered an "ugly duckling" and who had little confidence in herself, became a force to be reckoned with on not only the national stage but in the world arena as well. Hilary Clinton might become president and she is already a