Eleanor Roosevelt's biographers are challenged to unfold how her interests and opinions affected her husband's administration between 1932 and 1945 and how her example created a new image both of the First Lady and of women in general. They must show Eleanor's evolution from uncertain child into the woman whose public leadership became a force for justice and peace within the nation and beyond. They have to interpret the social dimensions of the times when Eleanor was young, during World War II and while the United Nations was a fledgling organization. They need to picture some of the ways she exemplified and championed racial equity while segregation still dominated public and private life. Freedman met these challenges through skillful organization of an abundance of material, a thoughtful selection of personal details and a compelling prose narrative. His account presents documented facts and emotional truths to bring this dynamic, principled woman to life. An abundance of black and white archival photographs, material about Eleanor's personal home at Val-Kill and Freedman's well developed bibliographic essay about materials written for adults also distinguish a splendid biography. (Ages 9-14)

Through skillful organization of an abundance of material, thoughtful selection of personal details and a compelling prose narrative, this account of Eleanor Roosevelt's life synthesizes documented facts and emotional truth to create a deeply insightful portrait of this dynamic, principled womanâ€"a woman whose experience and counsel helped shape her husband's Presidential administration, whose transformation from an uncertain child to public leader is near-legendary, and whose actions championed racial equity while segregation dominated public and private life. Black and white archival photographs, material about Eleanor's personal home at Val-Kill and a well-developed bibliographic essay about materials written for adults distinguish this biography of the woman who headed the task force that wrote the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.