Sure, it’s President’s Day, but behind all those men stood 46 women—the first ladies. ^[1]  Of all of them, I have two favorites:  Eleanor Roosevelt and Dolley Madison.

I think the first characteristic of a decent illustrated biography about Eleanor Roosevelt should be the fact that it’s not part of the ValueTales series.  I think the existence of those books in my home library growing up can, by itself, explain my love for public libraries.  The series was comprised of horrible revisionist biographies that somehow reasoned that the best way to teach values was to give imaginary friends to prominent historical figures (to say nothing of the late 1970s cartoon illustrations).

Oh, but this is NONFICTION Monday…moving on…

Doreen Rappaport.  Eleanor: Quiet No More.  Illustrated by Gary Kelley.  Hyperion Books, 2009.  48 pages.  Age 6+.

While this book does work its way through Eleanor’s social milestones and political accomplishments, it also looks at her personal transformation, from an arms-length, seen-but-not-heard Victorian upbringing, to the confident, active humanitarian who left her mark on the world.  The prose is concise, but the engaging narrative covers a lot of ground.  Each page is enhanced with poignant quotations.  The illustrations are moving and match the tone of the book throughout.  It’s a great introduction to the life of an amazing woman, accessible to young readers, and nary an imaginary friend within.

Don Brown.  Dolley Madison Saves George Washington  Houghton Mifflin, 2007.  32 pages.  Age 4 to 8.

This book does not discuss Dolley’s early life, except to describe her as a “farm girl.”    Let’s ignore how that belittles her Quaker upbringing, or how she tragically lost her first husband and a son to yellow fever.  Truth is, she’s only famous for marrying that heartbreaker, James Madison.

As a first lady, Dolley became a charming socialite who was known for her dinner parties.  But there was also that one time she facilitated the rescue of a portrait of George Washington from the soon-to-be-burning presidential mansion.  It’s a good story, and worthy of being the central element of this simple biography.

My favorite spread is the book’s treatment of the War of 1812.  On the left we have a finger-pointing George III who says, “You side with our enemies!”  On the right we have Uncle Sam, poised for a fistfight in period dress (excepting an anachronistic I Want You! hat), saying, “You kidnap our sailors!”  Love it.

So, Nonfiction Monday is happening right here today!  Leave your links in the comments, and I’ll post them at intervals throughout the day.  Use this permalink for your incoming links:

http://artofirreverence.com/2010/02/15/nfmon1/

News

Anastasia Suen has created a Nonfiction Monday listserv, and bloggers and authors are invited to join.

Cybils Winner

There is a lot of excitement about the 2009 Cybils winners (announced yesterday!), so there are several posts about the nonfiction picture book winner, The Day Glo Brothers by Chris Barton (text) and Tony Persiani (art):

• Roberta at Wrapped in Foil
• Shirley at SimplyScience Blog
• Jone at Check It Out
• Anastasia at Picture Book of the Day

Arts & Recreation

• At Bookends, Lynn and Cindy review Lights On Broadway: A Theatrical Tour from A to Z by Harriet Ziefert (text) and Elliot Kreloff (art).
• At Wendie’s Wanderings, Wendie reviews The Best of Figure Skating by Kathy Allen.
• BookMoot has a review of What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe: A Green Activity Book about Reuse by Anna Alter.

Geography/History/Biography

• At Playing by the Book, Zoe reviews As the Crow Flies: A First Book of Maps by Gail Hartman (text) and Harvey Stevenson (art).
• At Charlotte’s Library, Charlotte reviews The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Brian Mealer.
• At Jean Little Library, Jennifer reviews Spies of the Mississippi by Rick Bowers.
• At Abby (the) Librarian, Abby reviews Child of the Civil Rights Movement by Paula Young Shelton (text) and Raul Colon (art).
• At Whispers of Dawn, Sally reviews The Pirate Queen by Emily Arnold McCully.
• At Becky’s Book Reviews, Becky reviews Pick & Shovel Poet: The Journey of Pascal D’Angelo by Jim Murphy.
• At Young Readers, Becky reviews Big George: How A Shy Boy Became President Washington by Anne Rockwell (text) and Matt Phelan (art).
• At A Patchwork of Books, Amanda reviews John Brown: His Fight for Freedom by John Hendrix.
• At Biblio File, Jennie reviews A Life in the Wild: George Schaller’s Struggle to Save the Last Great Beasts by Pamela S. Turner, and The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P. T. Barnum by Candace Fleming.
• At Lost between the Pages, Anna reviews Muckrakers by Anne Bausum.

Science

• At In Need of Chocolate, Sarah reviews Dino Dung: The Scoop on Fossil Feces by Dr. Karen Chin & Thom Holmes (text), and Karen Carr (art).
• At proseandkahn, Brenda reviews Charles Darwin and the Beagle Adventure by A.J. Wood and Clint Twist.
• At SimplyScience Blog, Shirley reviews Toco Toucans: Bright Enough to Disappear by Anastasia Suen.
• At Wild about Nature, Kim reviews Adopted by an Owl: The True Story of Jackson the Owl by Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen (text) and Gijsbert van Frankenhuysen (art).
• At The Cat and the Fiddle, Michelle discusses the ending of All Pigs Are Beautiful by Dick King-Smith.
• At Raising Readers and Writers, Julie reviews The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Every Day by Loreen Leedy.

^[1] For the tally, we are counting Buchanan’s niece, Harriet Lane.  If When we get to transition to the term “first spouses,” we’ll see where that leaves Harriet.