Book Detail

Our Eleanor

Publication Information
Author:  Fleming, Candace Illustrator:  
Title:  Our Eleanor Date:  2005
Publisher:  Atheneum City:  Boston ?
ISBN, paperback:  0-689-86544-9 ISBN, hardback:  

Recommended audience:
ABE/ABLE:   Yes ESOL:  
Family:   Young Adult:   Yes
Picture:   Yes

General Information:
Book Type(s):    biography and autobiography

HSE Descriptor(s):    social studies

Summary:
Organized like a scrapbook with themed chronological divisions that contain short texts, this very personable and balanced biography of Eleanor Roosevelt emphasizes her complexity and self-growth and her evolution as a political activist. The author includes an overview, a timeline, a family tree, source notes, a bibliography of Roosevelt's works, and a bibliography with web sites.

Teaching Ideas:
The book joins a small text set that includes Eleanor Roosevelt by Russell Freedman, Eleanor by Barbara Clooney, and a section of Madame President by Catherine Thimmesh. Since this book describes her development, readers might use a Venn diagram to gather positive and negative traits before writing a character sketch. Students interested in her many, many public projects (League of Women Voters is one), could choose a favorite cause, use the Internet to research her work in the area, and share the information with the class. On a light note, readers might write about how she gained her nicknames of "Everywhere Eleanor" and "Public Energy Number One" or the significance of the title (the name of the airplane that took her to visit troops in the Pacific). A quote from Clair Booth Luce makes an excellent discussion/writing topic: "No woman has ever so comforted the distressed, or so distressed the comfortable." (p. 146)

Teaching Strategies:
bullet Agree? Disagree? Why?
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/agree_disagree_why.pdf
bullet Copy Change
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/copy_change.pdf
bullet Discussion Webs
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/discussion_webs.pdf
bullet DR-TA: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/dr_ta.pdf
bullet Venn Diagrams
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/venn_diagrams.pdf

Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword
bullet Emotions-Personal Issues > personal issues > group > leadership
bullet Emotions-Personal Issues > emotions > loss
bullet History > topic > war > World War II
bullet History > region > U.S. history > Great Depression
bullet Family > family life
bullet Social Studies > sociology > women > feminism
bullet Government/Civics > government
bullet Government/Civics > politics
bullet Social Studies > sociology > women > women in history > Roosevelt, Eleanor
bullet Government/Civics > government > Presidents


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