Earlier this year I read a “scrapbook” biography of Benjamin Franklin’s life written by the same author. This Biography is about Eleanor Roosevelt, and her tremendous life. I’m so glad I came across this book, and read it. It gave me a whole new picture of this revolutionary woman. I always knew that Eleanor was a unique figure in history, but this really made me understand her life and the influence she held in America at the time. I hadn’t known that she was the first woman delegate to the United Nations, or that she helped to write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or that she was a huge leader in the Democratic party for many years.
The number of things that she accomplished in life is absolutely amazing, and it was for the majority centered around helping people in all walks of life, and in dozens of different places. Yet this biography also shows the human side of her, how her marriage wasn’t picture perfect, and her mother-in-law was controlling and overbearing. My favorite detail was the fact that she was a terrible driver. She got in car accidents all the time, complete with newspaper articles detailing what happened. This entertaining and informative biography really is a delight to read.
I really do love how this format allows the reader to view primary documents along with the narrative text, though I wished that some of the scanned documents had been larger and clearer, because I was squinting to read them. The book is full of pictures, documents, cartoons, articles, letters, and posters that make the book more fascinating. This was a really excellent book, and an excellent resource for young people interested in history. I would highly recommend this to all!
Author's Website:http://www.candacefleming.com/
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