Dear Mr. President: Theodore Roosevelt Letters from a Young Coal Miner

Dear Mr. President

by Jennifer Armstrong

Fifteen-year-old Frank Kovacs, a Polish immigrant working in the coal mines of eastern Pennsylvania, begins a correspondence with Theodore Roosevelt after he assumes the presidency on September 14, 1901.

Genres: History, Presidents

118 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2001

About the author

Jennifer Armstrong learned to read and write in Switzerland, in a small school for English speaking children on the shores of Lake Zurich. The school library had no librarian and no catalog – just shelves of interesting books. She selected books on her own, read what she could, and made up the rest. It was perfect. As a result, she made her career choice – to become an author – in first grade. When she and her family returned to the U.S. she discovered that not all children wrote stories and read books, and that not all teachers thought reading real books was important. Nevertheless, she was undaunted. Within a year of leaving college she was a free-lance ghost writer for a popular juvenile book series, and before long published her first trade novel, Steal Away, which won her a Golden Kite Honor for fiction.

More than fifty additional novels and picture books followed, and before long she also tried her hand at nonfiction, winning an Orbis Pictus Award and a Horn Book Honor for her first nonfiction book, Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. In late 2003 she will travel to the South Pole with the National Science Foundation to do research for a book on ice.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would have been five stars except the website which is mentioned on almost every page does not seem to have much information anymore. I learned a lot from this short easy to read book that I hadn’t learned about TR in a 500 page biography I had just completed. I would be interested in reading the other books in this series

[Kendalyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun fact: Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (for being the mediator in forming a peace agreement with Russia and Japan). I didn't know that, now I do.

[Huguette Larochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice little book for kid very short . to learn of the president Theodore Roosevelt.
in the 1901.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Dear Mr. Roosevelt,
“I heard at work about that President McKinley got gunned down by a crazy fellow and now you are president…I have advice for you…don’t let no crazy man near you. They is almost always trouble…”

With that, thirteen year old Frank Kovacs begins a friendly and informative correspondence with newly appointed president Theodore Roosevelt. Throughout the series of the letters from the White House, Frank learns about Roosevelt’s life, as well as his family, and their wide variety of pets.
What the President learns about Frank, however, will profoundly change him, and help to spur on events that will change the country as well. Frank is miner from the Pennsylvania coal country. His immigrant family members also work at the mines. Despite the long hours, and the dangerous nature of the work, the Kovaks and other miners earn almost nothing because of the greed of the coal companies. Roosevelt is shocked to hear that a young boy like Frank is forced to work in a mine all day to help support his family. “A boy must have fresh air and sunshine,” advised the President, “I hope you have your time to be a boy.”

To protest their poor treatment, the coal miners, including Frank, go on strike. With winter coming on, the entire country begins to worry about how they will be able to heat their homes without the much-needed fuel. In the end, President Roosevelt steps in and settles the dispute peaceably, although he confides to Frank that he would have preferred “thrash[ing the coal company owners] all down Pennsylvania Avenue and back again.” As a result of the settlement, miners will be paid more and their working conditions improve.

Although the correspondence between Frank and Theodore Roosevelt is largely fictional, the events surrounding the boy and his president are true. They reveal a crucial time in our nation’s history. In a time when big and corrupt businesses treated their workers like animals, Roosevelt stepped in to give people like Frank dignity, and to give them a chance to live the American dream.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of books is a good way to introduce students to the presidents of history. They are very readable, and a quick way to learn about the personalities of the presidents without getting too bogged down with politics. It just gives an overview into the Presidents' positions and humanizes them immensely. Also gives some unknown facts that is based on truths.
Very good reads. I've read this - T Roosevelt, T Jefferson, A Lincoln, FDR,

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably my second favorite in the Dear Mr. President series, after the one on Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt has always been one of my favorite presidents, and I thought this book was very interesting; I thought the way the author interpreted Theodore Roosevelt was very real.