"This Depression-era story is rich with the details of life in the small mining and steel town of Johnstown, PA. When her family is threatened with losing their home and business because they are unable to pay their bank loans, 11-year-old Margo Bandini writes a desperate letter to Mrs. Roosevelt as part of a class assignment. Margo has read about the First Lady's interest in children and her visits to people all over the world and hopes that the woman might find a way to save her home. With a little help from Margo's teacher, who is also a newspaper writer and a friend of Mrs. Roosevelt's, the letter gets the attention of the First Lady, who then arranges with the bank to refinance the family's loan as a part of the New Deal relief program. The outcome of this plot may seem outlandish, yet this novel is based on events that actually occurred in the author's family. The strong and believable female characters, the smooth integration of historical facts into the story, and the compelling first-person narrative make this a good choice for social-studies reading, historical-fiction assignments, or book discussion."—Joan Zaleski
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