Eleanor Roosevelt: Fighter for Justice by Ilene Cooper - ADVISABLE

Eleanor Roosevelt: Fighter for Justice by Ilene Cooper, 184 pages. NON-FICTION. Abrams, 2018. $18.

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: G.

BUYING ADVISORY: MS - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

This book covers the span of Eleanor Roosevelt’s life, with a focus in the second half of the book on her activities toward equality. As a youth, Eleanor experienced the deaths of many close to her, including both her parents and a sibling, as well as a transient lifestyle, moving from house to house. In her later years she battled against the prejudice of her youth by educating herself about the state of disadvantaged populations - women, children, immigrates, and people of color. 

I appreciated the balance in this book, in that the author was honest about the racist things Eleanor had done, but explained how she moved past old beliefs and educated herself on compassion and representation. The book does go in to limited details on Eleanor’s husband’s affair, which may be a bit mature for some readers. The book contains a good sampling of photographs mixed in with each chapter. 

Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher