Natalie S. Bober (1930–2022)

I didn't finish this, although it was well written and the story interesting. My problem is my growing resentment about the American Revolution which was just a bunch of entitled white dudes wanting freedom to pursue their property (which often included other humans) and manipulated the poor colonists to not only buy their line of BS, but to fight and die for their cause in the name of "liberty". While I am often taken with women in history, Abigail was as invested in the class entitlements show more as her husband, which was why she was educated at all. So out of bitterness I quit this book. show less

My 8th grader was supposed to read this as the first Language Arts unit of the year (part of the Moving Beyond the Page Level 12-14 curriculum). He struggled through the first two chapters, so I agreed to read the rest aloud to him. As well as keeping him focused, reading this to him, gave us a chance to discuss as we read (which included laughing at little jokes that he might not have otherwise caught, and adding commentary about poor behavior on the part of founding fathers, including show more Thomas Jefferson with Sally Hemings, who was barely older than his daughter who she accompanied to France).

Abigail Adams was pretty bad ass. She followed the social norms of her time -- marrying, raising children, and running her household like a boss -- but behind the scenes, she influenced not only her husband and son (both POTUSes, in case you missed that), but also corresponded with Thomas Jefferson (until they had a falling out over politics, which they eventually patched up) and other influential men (and some of their wives).

She wrote a lot and this biography is based heavily on her letters to family and friends. While I appreciate the support of original documents, the way that Ms. Bober incorporates the many excerpts (from brief phrases to much longer passages) into the narrative is often awkward. Keep in mind that I was reading this aloud and assumed different voices to differentiate between Abigail, John, and other characters when they were being quoted. This meant often switching back and forth multiple times within the same sentence. Awkward.

Among all the quotes and less interesting details, Ms. Bober does manage to capture the more interesting aspects of AA's life: international travel, some really tragic losses (including four of her six children and several grandchildren during her lifetime), and a major role in American history. show less

I love this book! I love how the speaker of the book is Robert Frost's daughter, Lesley Frost. I think that by having the perspective of the book be written from Lesley's perspective it gives it a more divine, unique tone and meaning. I think that if this biography had been in the viewpoint of Robert Frost himself it wouldn't have been as interesting to read. The speaker does a great job of getting her central message across, which is that, her father, Robert Frost was a great poet who took show more chances and worked hard to make a living. The central message of the poem also relates to the fact that it is important to take chances and make new experiences for oneself. One thing that I especially loved about this book was how lines of Robert Frost's poems were included in the book to tag along with the text on the page. For example, on one page the lines, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by..." After including this line, Lesley starts talking about how the road that her father took was an important road to take. Another thing that I love about this book is its illustrations. The illustrations wrap around each page to give the perspective that the text is embedded in the illustrations. I think that this provides a great visual for the reader to connect the text about Robert Frost and his adventurous life to a picture of what his life really looked like.This technique helps the reader gain greater meaning and comprehension of the text. show less

Good book!  Luckily, Abigail Adams correspondence was mostly preserved.  The author did an exhaustive job of not only reading nearly everything Abigail had ever written, but actually piecing together a timeline of her life from these letters. I found the earlier part of the book quite fascinating as it gives the reader a looking glass not only into the life of Adams but also what life was like in her time. 
Definitely worth reading.