Most people remember Eleanor Roosevelt as a compassionate first lady and humanitarian. Accompanied by digitally enhanced, childlike illustrations, this picture book biography traces Roosevelt's formative years and how they shaped the famous figure Americans recall today. Beginning with a near-fatal ocean liner accident that left young Eleanor anxious and frightened for years, the short text continues with more tragedy: the deaths of her mother, brother, and father in a two-year period and her new reality living with a cold, distant grandmother. The opportunity to attend a boarding school with an attentive headmistress, however, changed her life. Becker describes how this newfound care and independence influenced Eleanor as a young woman to look outward towards people in need of better health care, education, and living and working conditions. Despite the darkness in Roosevelt's childhood, springtime colors prevail in Lewis' simple, textured illustrations, which help keep the biography's tone upbeat. A lengthy author's note expands upon the text, offering more details about Eleanor's sad early life and social justice service later. Interspersed inspirational quotes from Eleanor extend the theme.

How the future first lady overcame her fears.A misleading subtitle isn't all that afflicts this profile-which, rather than highlight Roosevelt's "kindness," points to an early experience of being tossed off a damaged ocean liner into a lifeboat as the origin of deep anxiety issues and goes on, in the wake of the deaths of her parents and brother, to trace the blossoming of her self-confidence under the tutelage of Marie Souvestre, headmistress at a British boarding school, and her initial involvement in social causes. The author ends with Eleanor's first chance encounter with Franklin but expands on her career and legacy in an afterword. There's a condescending tone toward others in parts of Becker's narrative ("As she approached the settlement house for the first time, a wave of terror threatened to engulf her. What poverty!") that is reinforced by a later quote from Roosevelt about how "the underdog was always the one to be championed." People don't remain quite so anonymous in Lewis' pale, understated illustrations, though people in group settings do have generic features; in a capping final scene, there are brown individuals among the White ones. Eleanor Roosevelt is hard to top as a role model, but readers will get a more robust sense of her character from Barbara Kerley's Eleanor Makes Her Mark (2020), illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. (This book was reviewed digitally.)Respectful (to its subject at least) but a staid, distant picture. (references and further resources) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)

Gr 1–3— This look at Eleanor Roosevelt's formative years seeks out the moments that defined the woman to come. Losing her parents and brother at an early age and sent to live with a distant grandmother, Roosevelt found her purpose first at the Allenswood boarding school in England, where she ultimately found comfort and support and emerged as a compassionate, capable leader with a strong social conscience. Becker briefly touches on Roosevelt's childhood anxiety and sense of isolation, and how there was no affection from her grandmother. When Roosevelt attends school in England, Becker becomes more effusive, with flowing sentences to illustrate Roosevelt's own burgeoning personality: "She was no longer lonely. And for the first time in her life, she was not afraid." Mixed media illustrations speak to young Roosevelt's isolation, often putting her toward the front of the page and set apart; as she becomes more confident, she is pictured in groups of others, with attentive body language. Endpapers are blue on blue with silhouetted icons from Roosevelt's life. VERDICT So many biographies focus on Roosevelt's social activism and public service later in life; this work provides an origin point. A very good purchase for picture book biography collections.— Rosemary Kiladitis