Our Eleanor by Candace Fleming

Bibliography
Fleming, Candace. 2005. Our Eleanor. New York: New York. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780689865442

Summary
Our Eleanor is a biography of the life of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s life from infancy to her death in 1962. This biography contains very private details from Eleanor’s low self-esteem as a child because of her looks to the details of her not so perfect marriage to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Critical Analysis
All throughout the book the author includes documentable dialogue that came from Eleanor, her children and her friends. At the end of the book source notes, picture credits, and other resources about Eleanor are included. The book begins with a table of contents that includes titles, page numbers and a quote by Eleanor that introduces parallels with what the chapter is about. It continues with a time line of Eleanor’s life and a Roosevelt Family Tree. Then it continues from her birth, youth, marriage, and finally her death in 1962. The book is organized as a scrapbook with each vignette including borders, portraits, letters, newspaper clippings, sketches, or photographs. Headings with bold fonts are included as well as subheadings with a different font style are also used. Captions under well cropped photographs or other images are included to aid the reader. The book jacket is inviting with a colorful portrait of Mrs. Roosevelt. Her warm smile and her soft blue eyes give the photograph an inviting motherly appearance that draws the reader in. The black and white photographs, newspaper clippings, and letters support the text throughout and are placed appropriately with each vignette and are either gay, or serious. Middle school children or older could easily open this book and begin reading from any point in the book. The ivory pages give the book an older feel while giving the background a crisp look. The various font sizes and varieties help move the text along as the journey through Eleanor’s life continues. The writing is clear and to the point and shows the author’s interest in Mrs. Roosevelt’s life without being biased. The author encourages curiosity throughout the book by the way she chooses to title certain vignettes. One of the titles in the book is “The Other First Lady” and then we see a large photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt sitting in a carriage with another woman sitting between the two of them, and then there’s another vignette titled “Father’s Weakness” that peaks the reader’s curiosity.

Review Excerpt(s)
*Society of School Librarians International Book Awards, 2006.
*Jefferson Cup Award, 2006. Honor Book Grades 6-12

* Kirkus Reviews-“Had Eleanor Roosevelt kept a scrapbook-an incredibly well-organized and thorough scrapbook-this is how it might feel to look through it. Arranged chronologically, the volume works like a jigsaw puzzle. Open it up, pick individual pieces at random and when placed all together, a full picture of the subject emerges...”

*Booklist- “As in Fleming's Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman's Life (2003), which was a 2004 Booklist Top 10 Biography, this takes a pastiche approach to humanizing a legendary life. Through anecdotes and archival photos drawn from an assortment of sources, Fleming invites readers into a camaraderie with the timid, neglected little girl who grew up to become the woman many nicknamed "co-president," and whose flouting of accepted gender roles earned her admiration and ridicule in equal measure…”

*Library Media Connection- “This scrapbook biography employs oral history transcripts, books, and photographs. Eleanor's vital role in American history is chronicled in this biography that captures her vulnerability and her humanity. With chapters in loose chronological order, chapter titles indicate phases of Eleanor's life...”

Connections
*Use as a cross curricular resource in Social Studies and English Language Arts to study biographies.