Oops! , and: What To Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America Elizabeth Bush Marrin, Albert The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America. Dutton, 2007248 p illus. with photographs ISBN 978-0-525-47659-7$30.00 R Gr. 7-10 Eldest daughter and frequent thorn in the side of Theodore Roosevelt, Alice Roosevelt, with her propensity for "eating up the world" and her tomboyish, envelope-pushing ways, could clearly be a liability for a politically ambitious father. Here Kerley reviews some of Alice's flamboyant activities, from gallivanting through the D.C. streets at night and joining an all-boys club, to driving a runabout and betting on horses. The text is generally limited to a freewheeling litany of Alice's antics, with any serious discussion of her relationship with her famous father consigned to concluding notes. Moreover, many of Alice's proclivities—resistance to formal education; a heartfelt wish to wear pants rather than skirts; a love of picnics, make-believe, and pioneer stories—may strike modern listeners as pretty tame business. Fotheringham's digital illustrations, which follow Alice from gamin to grownup, slyly caricature an often exasperated and occasionally proud T. R.; compositions dominated by dynamic curves and strong diagonal lines (and sometimes even crisscrossed by dotted lines following Alice's peripatetic path) generate a sense of nonstop action. Peeking behind the White House door at its child residents is always a kid-pleasing enterprise, and stories of spirited Alice may set listeners to scanning the current political horizon for equally fascinating presidential offspring. Copyright © 2008 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois