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Book ReviewsFranklin D. Roosevelt: Our Thirty-Second President (Our Presidents) |
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Book: Franklin D. Roosevelt: Our Thirty-Second President (Our Presidents)
Written by: Melissa Maupin |
Publisher: Child's World
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5
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A solid introductory juvenile biography of F.D.R.
Rating:
5 / 5
Given the format of the Our Presidents series author Melissa Maupin was going to face a challenge telling the story of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Usually these books devote a chapter to each term of office served by a president and since Roosevelt was elected to the White House four times this was going to present a problem. But Maupin goes with the best approach and divides the Roosevelt presidency into two halves, the first dominated by the Great Depression and the second by World War II. The opening chapter looks at Roosevelt's early life ending with his marriage to his fifth cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, while the second looks at his political career, his paralysis from polio, and his election as governor of New York. Then Maupin focuses on the New Deal as FDR's response to the Great Depression and World War II as the Fight for a Free World. From the former young readers will get an appreciation for the ways in which Roosevelt changed the relationship between the government and the people, while from the latter they will understand how he was ahead of the nation in terms of being prepared for America to enter the war.
For the main part Maupin focuses on covering the biographical details of Roosevelt's life, but she also manages to provide some evaluation of the key ideas and events of the period as well. The result is a solid introduction to Franklin D. Roosevelt for young readers. This volume is illustrated with black & white photographs from FDR's personal and political life, there are informative sidebars on daily life during the Depression and Eleanor Roosevelt as a new kind of first lady, and the margins are filled with Interesting Facts (e.g., FDR graduated from Harvard in three years), As with the rest of the series the back of the volume has a Time Line that stretches from FDR's birth in 1882 to Eleanor's death in 1962, a glossary of over a dozen terms, a page of presidential facts, Internet sites and books for Further Information, and an index.
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