"What to do About Alice?" By: Barbara Kerley (non-fiction, biography)

This lively picture book is about Alice Roosevelt and her life as the President’s daughter. Alice’s mother died when she was very young, and her father Theodore Roosevelt, is seen at the beginning of the story wondering what to do about the extremely energetic Alice. The book goes on to tell about the many adventures that Alice had while living in the White House as a child and as a grown up wife of a congressman.

I would use this book in my classroom when talking about the government, just to add a little flair and sort of an inside perspective. I would have the students look up some of the other children of the White House, and if there were books about any of them, we could read them together and compare their experiences to Alice’s. I also think that I would have the kids imagine that their father/mother was the President, and tell them to write about a day in their life as the President’s son/daughter.