It’s 1901, and ten-year-old Ethel’s father has just become president after McKinley’s assassination. As seen through Ethel’s eyes, this story of the first few months of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency is a genuine page-turner, rich with historical detail. Ethel adores her lively, intelligent mother, her nature-loving war-hero father, and her tumble of brothers and their pets. She’s especially close to Alice Roosevelt, her 17-year-old stepsister. But Ethel must attend boarding school Monday through Friday. She misses her wild and woolly family and is confused and upset by the other girls’ gossip about her—the newspapers were as frenzied then as now. Bradley expertly weaves in some hilarious—and true—set pieces: Ethel crawling under the table at a state dinner to put a note in her father’s lap on a dare; Alice making up descriptions of her own and her stepmother’s gowns for the newspapers because they didn’t have different ones for every occasion; the president playing “Bear” with his sons. She makes Ethel a vivid and engaging presence and her struggles for acceptance at school ring true. A fascinating look at an intriguing world. (photographs, author’s note, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 8-12)
