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

Bibliography
Kerley, B. & Fotheringham, E. (2008). What to do about Alice? : how Alice Roosevelt broke the rules, charmed the world, and drove her father Teddy crazy. Ill. by Edwin Fotheringham. New York: Scholastic Press.ISBN: 9780439922319

Plot Summary
Theodore Roosevelt has done a lot in his life. He’s bagged a grizzly bear, lead the Rough Riders, and served as the President of the United States. But even with all of that experience, he has never learned how to do one thing. What can be done about his daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt?

Rather than focus on the man, the president, this biography focuses on the daughter. What was life like for the daughter of the future president of the United States? What sort of hijinks did she get into? Find out in this peak into one of the most prominent families in United States history.

Critical Analysis
The beginning of this classic picture book introduces Theodore Roosevelt’s problem: his daughter, Alice. After the descriptions of everything Roosevelt has faced, he is no long Theodore Roosevelt, but Father. The story follows a chronological progression from young Alice to her contributions as the wife of a congressman.

The images are colorful and the illustrator manages to compact heaps of information in a limited space. For example, pages 8 and 9 depict a train that conveys the move the family made between New York and Washington D.C. On the same page as the trains, there are oval pictures of Alice picnicking, pretending to ride a horse, and drinking tea to reflect the text on the page. A few pages later, Alice falls down a set of stairs due to her braces. The fall is revealed with dotted lines.

At the very back of the book, in the Author’s Note, the author provides more information about the presidents’ firstborn daughter. President Roosevelt never called her Alice. The pain of losing his first wife kept him from uttering her name so he called her “sister” instead. The author also provides details about Alice’s contributions in Washington D.C. long after her husband's death. Rather than giving the reader a detailed list of resources, the author cites only a few sources in small print on the back cover. The inspiration behind writing this book is given in the author’s biography. Barbara Kerly came across an image of Alice in a historical magazine with an interesting caption that prompted her to write this book.

What To Do About Alice? is an interesting and different take on the original biography. It shows that the presidents weren’t the only interesting figures living in the White House.

Review Excerpt(s)
Sibert Medal Nominee (2009)
Irma Black Award Nominee (2009)
BOOKLIST: "Irrepressible Alice Roosevelt gets a treatment every bit as attractive and exuberant as she was....The large format gives Fotheringham, in his debut, plenty of room for spectacular art."
KIRKUS:"Theodore Roosevelt s irrepressible oldest child receives an appropriately vivacious appreciation in this superb picture book.... Kerley s precise text presents readers with a devilishly smart, strong-willed girl who was determined to live life on her own terms and largely succeeded."

Connections
Journal Prompt: What trouble do you get into at home that would make your parents say “What to do about _____?”
Provide different biographies about other children of presidents.
Have students choose a child of a president. Students will conduct an interview with the president’s child. This could be presented as a podcast so students will have to work in partners. One student is the interviewer and the other is the president's’ child.
Math: determine the distance between Washington D.C. and New York City. Create a word problem with this distance.