Jack: The Early Years of John F. Kennedy

by Ilene Cooper

Overview

We all know him as our 35th president, but who was John F. Kennedy before he took political office? Ilene Cooper effortlessly takes us through the young life of one of our most influential leaders, for a reading experience you’ll not soon forget.

Drawing on family letters, anecdotes, recollections,and biography, Ilene Cooper has written a riveting account of John F. Kennedy’s early years from birth to prep school graduation, all set against the colorful background of the Kennedy family and their wildly successful pursuit of the American dream. Completely reformatted, this paperback edition is the perfect companion to adult biographies on JFK, and just right for young historians looking to discover the boy behind the man.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101635209
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	10/03/2013
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
Lexile:	1090L (what's this?)
File size:	31 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	10 Years

About the Author

Ilene Cooper (www.ilenecooper.com) is the award-winning author of more than thirty books for children and teenagers. She is the Senior Editor at Booklist, the review journal of the American Library Association, and lives outside Chicago, Illinois.

Table of Contents

The Dare 1

Chapter 1 "A Very, Very Sick Little Boy" 3

Chapter 2 "We Want Winners" 10

Chapter 3 "Better To Take It in Stride" 25

Chapter 4 "Weaving Daydreams" 41

Chapter 5 "A Real Stigma" 49

Chapter 6 Hyannis Port and Hollywood 58

Chapter 7 "The Boy Who Doesn't Get Things Done" 76

Chapter 8 Homesick 85

Chapter 9 "Quite Different from Joe" 93

Chapter 10 Jack and Lem 103

Chapter 11 "An Inner Eye" 112

Chapter 12 Muckers 123

Afterword 136

Source Notes 153

Bibliography 162

Index 164

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The text is full of anecdotes and quotes from family members and intimates, so the book has a personal tone. . .  A unique, highly readable choice for biography collections."—School Library Journal

"The quality of the research in Jack shows both in the way background history is seamlessly interwoven with biography and in the extensive source notes . . . "—Booklist

Editorial Reviews

Cooper (The Dead Sea Scrolls) offers an engaging overview of the mischievous and often sickly boy who grew up to become president. Readers may be surprised by how un-presidential Jack behaved in his youth. For though Jack demonstrated strong creative and intellectual leanings, he struggled with rules, punctuality and order-struggles which cost him many meals in his strict Irish Catholic family and which nearly led to expulsion at his prestigious boarding school, Choate. Joe Sr., the head of the close-knit Kennedy clan "wanted winners in the house, not losers," Cooper asserts, as she effectively establishes the man's ambitions for himself and his sons. She speculates that Jack exaggerated some of his impish traits because he could never measure up to his seemingly perfect elder brother, Joe Jr., while also highlighting Jack's charm through family stories and occasionally in his own words, such as his well argued "A Plea for a raise" in allowance, addressed to his father. The author also discusses Jack's myriad health problems, which began with life-threatening scarlet fever at age two and plagued him throughout his life. Primary sources and photographs help capture the high pressured and privileged Kennedy lifestyle and an effective afterword chronicles Jack's rapid ascent in politics. Though this leader conjures the myth of Camelot for adults, young readers may well find the reality of Jack's boyish wiles and struggles nearly as appealing. Ages 10-14. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 7 Up-Much has been written about the Kennedys, Jack in particular, so Cooper takes a different tack: she focuses on his early life, from his birth to his graduation from boarding school. In a lively style, she traces his entry into a prominent family, and shows the development of the family itself, as well as the relationships among its members. One that receives much attention is the competition between Jack and his older brother Joe, the heir apparent of their ambitious father, Joe Sr. The text is full of anecdotes and quotes from family members and intimates, so the book has a personal tone. Cooper also delves into the young Kennedy's personality and psyche, but masks many of the family's problems with softened explanations. Many black-and-white photos and reproductions of handwritten notes appear throughout. Source notes document the extensive research. A unique, highly readable choice for biography collections.-Carol Fazioli, formerly at The Brearley School, New York City Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

"Jack Kennedy's life was a gift, but one that was wrapped with many strings." John F. Kennedy was sickly, he was a dreamer, and he was a second son. It was Joe, his older brother, who was groomed to be the first Catholic president of the US. Joe was the responsible one, the one good at school, the one most likely to live his father's dream. Jack was a practical joker, a lackadaisical student, a "boy who doesn't get things done." Cooper (Jewish Holidays All Year Round, not reviewed, etc.) succeeds at portraying Jack as an ordinary boy with concerns that many kids have: conflicts with an older brother, illnesses, trouble in school, competition for parents' attention, and, finally, finding his way in life. Unfortunately, when he finally does begin to buckle down and find his way, the story is over, and the more famous events of Kennedy's later years are sketched in the afterword. Like all good biographies, the subject is the lens through which readers learn about his times. Cooper covers much history here: the Irish potato famine, the arrival of the Fitzgerald and Kennedy families on filthy "coffin ships," the prejudice against Irish Catholics, the Roaring Twenties, and the Great Depression. This is dependable nonfiction writing. Clear prose, numerous photographs, thorough source notes, and a solid bibliography make this a fine biography for young readers and a worthwhile addition to biography collections. (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews

"The text is full of anecdotes and quotes from family members and intimates, so the book has a personal tone. . .  A unique, highly readable choice for biography collections."—School Library Journal

"The quality of the research in Jack shows both in the way background history is seamlessly interwoven with biography and in the extensive source notes . . . "—Booklist

From the Publisher