Alice Roosevelt

Title: What to do About Alice?
Author: Barbara Kerley
Biography

     This is a partial biography of Theodore Roosevelt's first daughter Alice.  Alice was born in 1884 and her mother, Alice Lee, Teddy's first wife, died shortly after giving birth.  Teddy remarried and had more kids, but Alice always seemed to be the trouble maker.  She was ambitious, uncontrollable, and just wanted to have fun with her life.  Alice was very bright and studied in her father's library often.  She needed leg braces when she was younger but she wouldn't let that or anything else slow her down.  Alice was known for staying out late dancing, gambling, and being outrageous.  She drew a lot of attention and reporters loved it.  Some people were not comfortable with her ways and thought she should be more reserved, but others basked in her crazy lifestyle.  Alice traveled the globe, building her father's reputation, while collecting many gifts and things along the way like her husband, Nicholas Longworth, also a politician like her father.  With all of Alice's reading and study in the White House, she was very interested and well-informed in politics.  She advised her father and husband on many issues and liked to be very involved.  The story does not end with her death making it only a partial biography, but ends talking about Theodore's amusement with her and her uncontrollability.
     The illustrations of this book are quite fun and colorful, they really add to the text.  I liked the details in the story that are said to be true, and the way the author rearranged font to add to the illustrations.  At the back of the book is further information of her upbringing, the public's view of her, her influence in Washington D.C.  The author also provides sources from which she drew the quotes to create this story and where all of the information came from.  I think this is a great biography to have in the classroom because it is not someone everyone knows about but can help paint a bigger picture for Teddy Roosevelt's life as well.  It is fun and entertaining while still being full of facts.