Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt!


Fritz, Jean. Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! G.P. Putnam's, 1991. 127pp. Lexile 980.

“What did Theodore Roosevelt want to do? Everything.  And all at once if possible.  Plunging headlong into life, he refused to waste a single minute. Among other things, he studied birds, shot lions, roped steer, fought a war, wrote books, and discovered the source of a mystery river in South America.”  So opens this lively biography of a man who became President of the United States.  Written in Jean Fritz’s typically colorful style, the story combines a good sense of his character and his accomplishments, mostly before becoming President, with striking details--as New York City police commissioner, he wore bright pink shirts with a black silk cummerbund that had long tassels. Quotes, anecdotes, and vivid prose make this an exceptionally readable biography of one of our more unusual Presidents. 

Reading Std #6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.  Clearly Fritz finds Roosevelt an interesting subject.  Have students consider whether she is biased in his favor or against him, or is even-handed in her treatment, requiring them to point to specifics in the text.