Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
My Tour Of Europe By Teddy Roosevelt , Age 10
Illustrator: Catherine Brighton
Nonfiction Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Millbrook Press, 2003 ISBN: 0761319980
Before Theodore Roosevelt was the twenty-sixth president of the United States he was many other splendid things in the grownup world. And before he was a grownup he was a little boy. When he was just ten years old Theodore’s parents took him and his siblings on a year long tour of Europe. During the tour Theodore, or Teddy, wrote about his days in a journal. In this book Ellen Jackson has taken come of those entries and she has used them to give us an interesting picture of what Teddy was like when he was young.
What we discover is that Teddy is not unlike any other child going on a trip. Among other things he gets homesick, he cuts himself while playing, he loves candy, he gets into scrapes, and he picks flowers for his parents. Of course he also does some not so ordinary things like being able to stand right over an international border with one foot in one country and the other foot in another country.
Over the months Teddy sees all kinds of wonderful things but he cannot help feeling very happy when his ship once again sails into New York harbor.
In this charming picture book young readers will become acquainted with a little boy who would one day change the face of his country. It is amusing to read about all the naughty things he used to do and to know that in the future he would live in the White House.
At the back of the book the author provides further information about the life of Theodore Roosevelt frequently asking her readers questions to engage them in a discussion about the life and times of this very special man. She also includes a list of the words that Teddy misspelled in his original journal, words which have been corrected in this book for the sake of clarity.
The beautiful illustrations created for this book were drawn and painted in a period style which perfectly compliments the text.
