What To Do About Alice?

WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE?
Written by Barbara Kerley
Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
Scholastic, 2008

Category: Picture book biography

I love this book. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Barbara Kerley trimmed her rollicking biography of Alice Roosevelt Longworth with excellent word choices and perfectly used, perfectly accurate dialogue. Edwin Fotheringham added illustrations that convey the energy and spunk of Theodore Roosevelt’s first daughter. And the premise—that girls can be feisty AND adored—is one that will speak to tomboys everywhere. If you love biography, write biography for young people, or are in search of a girlish gift that is not pink or plastic, I strongly recommend this book.

Need further enticement? Here is the subtitle: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy!

Still more? “Alice Lee Roosevelt was hungry to go places, meet people, do things. Father called it ‘running riot.’ Alice called it ‘eating up the world.'”

How can you resist?