“The Diary of Alice Lee Roosevelt

Intensely Private Contents.  No Peeking.

… I ignored the ‘no peeking’ part and started deciphering the first entry immediately.

September 26, 1901

Dear Diary,

Now that I am the president’s daughter, it seems like I ought to keep a diary.  For the sake of remembering these momentous years, even though I think diaries are rather silly things.  They’re like writing letters to nobody, which seems like a waste of precious time.  I have failed miserably at keeping a journal in the past.  I will try better this time; perhaps more interesting things will happen to me now.” Audrey & Alice pg. 35, When Audrey Met Alice

It’s hard enough being in middle school, but pile being the daughter of the President of the United States on top of that, and it gets harder, and lonelier.  All Audrey wants is to have a few friends and when the opportunity to have her whole class over for a special movie preview gets cancelled by a security breach, Audrey’s left wondering if she’ll ever make new friends … and who exactly is going to help her eat the dozen pizzas that were just delivered?

However, things start to look up when Audrey finds former first kid, Alice Roosevelt’s, diary hidden in a closet.  What follows is a back and forth between the early 1900’s antics of Alice Roosevelt and the modern day mischief of Audrey, plus the important issue close to each girl’s heart.  What kind of trouble can someone who always has a Secret Service detail get into?  Read When Audrey Met Alice by Rebecca Behrens, for a little fun with a side of history.

While Audrey is a fictional character, Alice Roosevelt certainly was not!  Author, Rebecca Behrens states in her Author’s Note, “…the Alice you found in these pages is a fictional character.  I tried to capture the real Alice’s vivacious spirit, deep curiosity, lively wit, and fierce intelligence in my character Alice.  …  Although I tried to stay faithful to what happened in real life, when it came down to good fiction versus factual accuracy, fiction won.”  pg. 290, When Audrey Met Alice.  You can read how the author created fiction from real life, in Alice, for Real, as Behrens breaks down all the journal entries from the book, pointing out fact from fiction.  You can also check out a fun picture book What To Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy!, or visit the authors website www.rebeccabehrens.com for a list of resources and pictures of her research trip to the White House.