Kid Review – A Fine Little Bad Boy – picture book biography
Lowell, Barbara. A Fine Little Bad Boy: Quentin Roosevelt in the White House. Illustrated by Antonio Marinoni. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions, 2024.
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Summary
Quentin may be the “littlest Roosevelt,” but he soon rivals his father, the famous Teddy, as the biggest personality in the White House of the early 1900s. From roller skating in the halls to shooting spitballs, and from swimming in the fountains to taking a pony for an elevator ride, this “fine little bad boy” takes full advantage of his father’s long tenure as president, believing the good times will never end. When he learns the sad truth that the Roosevelts will have to move out, his spirits aren’t dampened for long; he still has his father, and the two of them can be fine little bad boys together!
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My Kid Review
It’s not often you find a biography of a president’s child, especially not in picture book format. Author Barbara Lowell shows a more human side of a presidency – mischievous kids. Many young children will laugh at the fun antics of Quentin – roller skating down the White House halls, walking on stilts, “sledding” down the staircases, and swimming in the White House fountain.
There may be some historical inaccuracies in the historical note at the end of the book. It states there that Quentin was the only one of the president’s children to live in the White House, yet my research showed that several of the children did.
Antoinio Marinoni’s artwork is beautiful and compliments the text well.
A Fine Little Bad Boy is appropriate for a K-12 Christian school library, although I do recommend librarians do some research of their own on the accuracy of the historical note. The book is lovely and introduces young children to the genre of biography.
I received a complimentary copy of A Fine Little Bad Boy. This is my honest review.
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