Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | J 921 ROOSEVELT | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Oakdale Library | J 921 ROOSEVELT | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | J 921 ROOSEVELT | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J 921 ROOSEVELT | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Teedie was not exactly the stuff of greatness: he was small for his size. Delicate. Nervous. Timid. By the time he was ten years old, he had a frail body and weak eyes. He was deviled by asthma, tormented by bullies. His favorite place to be was at home. Some might think that because of these things, Teedie was destined for a ho-hum life. But they would be wrong. For teeedie had a strong mind, as well as endless curiosity and determination. Is that all? No. Teedie also had ideas of his own--lots of them. It wasn't long before the world knew him as Theodore Roosevelt, the youngest president of the United States.
Author Notes
Don Brown is the award-winning author and illustrator of many picture book biographies. He has been widely praised for his resonant storytelling and his delicate watercolor paintings that evoke the excitement, humor, pain, and joy of lives lived with passion. School Library Journal has called him "a current pacesetter who has put the finishing touches on the standards for storyographies." He lives in New York with his family.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-Teedie led a privileged life in one of New York City's wealthiest households, but was a sickly child. His asthma didn't stop him from being curious or from reading widely (at least, about things that he found interesting), but his father nonetheless encouraged him to build up his physical strength. He worked hard and had at least one boxing success. Teedie became Teddy when he entered Harvard University in 1876. After graduation, Roosevelt sought his own way and continued on his own course in spite of personal losses (or perhaps because of them). He traveled, became an outdoorsman, a politician, and ultimately the youngest president of the United States. Line and wash illustrations add movement and a playful tone to the serious text, which generously incorporates quotes from Roosevelt. (These are not attributed, but it is assumed that they are drawn from sources provided at the end of the book.) An author's note concludes this brief overview and may well encourage youngsters to learn more about this fascinating figure. Lead them to Betsy Harvey Kraft's Theodore Roosevelt: Champion of the American Spirit (Clarion, 2003), which presents a fuller portrait illustrated with photographs.-Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at Washington DC Public Library Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
Horn Book Review
(Primary, Intermediate) Like a good orator, Brown tells readers what he's going to say; says it; and then tells them what he's said. Illustrations, personal events from Roosevelt's life, and facts work in concert to make these points but not belabor them. The jacket previews the work: Teedie is superimposed against an American flag; an oval portrait of the White House balances, but does not overpower, this figure of young TR. So how does a young boy achieve this kind of prominence? Teedie builds his frail body and sharp mind, turning an undersized boy into "a larger-than-life man." Childhood incidents indicate passions later in life: for example, Teedie read books as a child and wrote books as an adult. Born into a wealthy family, TR nonetheless "wanted not to 'rise on any else's shoulders'" and thus entered politics. Brown's signature watercolors follow the text and, on the final page, provide a potent instructional summation as President Theodore Roosevelt stands at the bully pulpit while a hand-lettered text proclaims his accomplishments. Numerous quotes appear to come from Roosevelt's writings (mentioned in a bibliography), and an author's note hints at disappointments in Roosevelt's later life. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The author/illustrator of many celebrated picture-book biographies (Dolley Madison Saves George Washington, 2007, etc.) turns his attention to the frail, timid boy who became our athletic youngest president. Young Teedie was thin and undersized, and "the Roosevelts' wealth couldn't protect him from asthma." Teedie's parents encouraged him to "make his body" as well as his mind; by the time he reached adulthood he was broad-shouldered and strong. The author gracefully touches upon the adult Roosevelt's successes, including the highlights of his presidency, but focuses most on the strengths Teedie had from the beginninga good mind and "boundless curiosity"choosing kid-pleasing details and allowing his protagonist to speak directly through well-chosen and age-appropriate quotes from Roosevelt's writings. Brown's characteristically vigorous scrawls capture both the scrawny boy and the bulldog of a man, infusing his vignettes with a sizable helping of wit. All in all, this is a spot-on introductory book for lower grades. (author's note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Young readers familiar with the burly, hale Teddy Roosevelt who lived for adventure will likely be surprised to learn that as a lad he was a sickly, nearsighted asthmatic. Yet this privileged city kid, bully-prey, decided early on never to let his frailties govern his ambitions. Brown uses copious quotations to good measure as he flits through Roosevelt's young life. (The quotes are unsourced, though a bibliography is appended, including Roosevelt's autobiography.) Roosevelt's words help impart the man's predilection for sternly poetic hyperbole: to get fit, he paddled 'in the hottest sun, over the roughest water, in the smallest boat.' The artwork is what one expects from Brown vignettes of scratchy pen-work that capture humor and drama with equal ease and show Teddy's progression from a wispy twig into a big stick. While this account may not possess the laser-beam focus of Brown's recent compact histories Let It Begin Here and All Stations Distress (both 2008), it does have a more kid-friendly hook in the young man whose determination trumped his boyhood shortcomings.--Chipman, Ian Copyright 2009 Booklist
