Nonfiction and Biography #1

 Nonfiction & Biography

Book Review #1

What To Do About Alice?

By Barbara Kerley

Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kerley, Barbara. 2008. WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE? Ill. Edwin Fotheringham. New York, New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 0439922313

PLOT SUMMARY

What To Do About Alice? is truly a delightful book about the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt.  Her full name was Alice Lee Roosevelt and she was as the book stated "hungry to go places, meet people, and do things.'" Alice was always turning every one of her experiences into an adventure, her father called it "RUNNING RIOT" and Alice called it "eating up the world." This book takes the reader on Alice Roosevelt's adventures with her one of a kind personality.  She lived a wonderful life always doing what she pleased even after she married. Teddy Roosevelt was one of the country's most popular politicians who had a problem that he never solved "What to do about Alice?"

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Barbara Kerley does an outstanding job with the biography of Alice Lee Roosevelt.  She keeps the reader engaged throughout the whole book with her wonderful writing style.  It is a completely different type of biography that is very refreshing and appealing to children.  From the time Alice was a child she always had a desire to do as she pleased and Barbara Kerley tells the story of Alice from the time she was a young girl to the time she becomes a wonderful woman loved by all.  

Edwin Fotheringham helps engage the reader with his outstanding illustrations with the use of beautiful colors, making the reader enjoy the book even more.  His way of illustrating Alice's expressions throughout the entire book the reader knows exactly what Alice is feeling.  The cartoon-like pictures is great for young kids to make inferences of what Alice is feeling throughout each one of her adventures.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW: "Kerley's text gallops along with a vitality to match her subject's antics, as the girl greets White House visitors accompanied by her pet snake, refuses to let leg braces cramp her style, dives fully clothed into a ship's swimming pool..."Fotheringham's digitally rendered, retro-style illustrations are a superb match for the text. The energy in his pictures is palpable as when Alice is turned loose in her father's library and five Alice's dart about followed by lines that trace her frenetic path as she reads eclectically and voraciously. The illustrations not only enhance but are frequently the source of humor."

BOOKLIST STARRED REVIEW: "Kerley's text has the same rambunctious spirit as its subject, grabbing readers from the first line: Theodore Roosevelt has a small problem. Children will be impressed with the way Alice took control of her life..."

The large format gives Fotheringham in his debut, plenty of room for spectacular art, which includes use of digital media. In almost every picture, Alice is running, motoring, racing."

CONNECTIONS

*Read book to children and discuss the Biography genre and create a graphic organizer sequencing the events of Alice Roosevelt's life.

*Invite children to read book about Alice Roosevelt's life and compare books:

Kimmelman, Leslie. MIND YOUR MANNERS, ALICE ROOSEVELT! ISBN 1561454923