Like That Eleanor - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF Sneak Peak

Maria Marshall
May 31
4 min read

With a country (or perhaps more accurately, adults) so polarized and divided and a very vocal group attacking the civil rights of thousands of people, it is important to remember what previous leaders - like the former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt - fought for. This is a wonderful picture book which weaves the history of Eleanor Roosevelt's fights and her determination to be an ally into a modern story of a young girl learning to right unfairness and fight for her friends.

Book cover - a girl lies on the grass bay a backpack full of yarn and a crochet project beside her, holding a book on Eleanor Roosevelt.

Like That Eleanor

Author: Lee Wind

Illustrator: Kelly Managan

Publisher: Cardinal Rule Press (June 3, 2025)

Ages: 5-7

Fiction

Themes:

Being an ally, fairness, friendship, nonbinary, and equality.

Synopsis:

What can you do when you see unfair things happening to other people? Eleanor’ s not sure, but she wants to make things more fair, like her namesake Eleanor Roosevelt. Robin’ s excluded from a boys-only soccer game. Bryce is left out of a girls-only conversation. And nonbinary Star can’t even use the same bathrooms as everyone else. Eleanor collects friends but doesn’t know how to help. But when their teacher leaves Star out of a classroom game, Eleanor stands up for her friend by sitting down in just the right spot... And that changes everything. Like THAT Eleanor. From award-winning author Lee Wind, whose social justice-inspired picture book Red and Green and Blue and White (illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky) was called “ beautiful” by The New York Times, in a review that praised it as, “ a message the world can use, throughout the year.

Opening Lines:

I am Eleanor. My dads named me after

Eleanor Roosevelt. Who was really famous.

She was all about making things more fair.

I want to make things fair, too.

What I loved about this book:

There is so much contained in this opening text and colorful, realistic illustrations. A girl, from a two-dad family, wants to live up to her namesake - Eleanor Roosevelt - and make the world more fair. Yet as she approached her school, she witnessed two boys excluding a girl from playing soccer with them, "It's BOYS ONLY. Duh!" Her face is so poignant as she worried that "sometimes things are so unfair. I don't know what to say." So, she stayed quiet.

Internal spread - on the left, two dads wave goodbye as their daughter heads to back to school. On the right two boys playing soccer refuse to let a girl join them.

Text © Lee Wind, 2025. Image © Kelly Mangan, 2025.

Later, talking with Papi about the discrimination, he shared about how Eleanore Roosevelt stood up for women reporters. In a wonderfully touching scene, Papi reassured her that she is just as smart.

Internal spread - a dad and daughter laughingly bump noses.

Back at school, Eleanor encountered other instances of discrimination or unfairness (girls against boys and bathroom labeling). Each time though, she remained sadly silent, out of the situation, not knowing what to do or how to help. When she talked with her dads, they shared additional ways that Eleanor Roosevelt helped as an ally. Arranging a concert for Marian Anderson, who was banned from a fancy theater because of her race and taking a chair to sit in the center isle at a meeting (instead of sitting in either side in the segregated seating).

Using a tweak on a wonderful refrain, Eleanor hoped, wished, and dreamed that she "could be more LIKE THAT ELEANOR." Each time, Kelly Mangan colored the word "that" like a rainbow. I also love how Kelly added yarn and crochet projects into almost every page because Eleanor Roosevelt loved to knit - including the tender gift of a red scarf which Eleanor wraps around a statute of the former first lady.

Finally, when the teacher asked the class to "line up your chairs., boys on this side of the classroom, girls on that side." Eleanor noticed a classmate's dejected, almost tearful reaction and, bristling at the unfairness, she followed Eleanor Roosevelt's example. She stood up for her nonbinary classmate, Star, and . . .

Internal spread - on the left teacher, hands on hips, facing two students. On the right, a girl pulling her chair into the center area between the "girls" and the "boys" sides of the room.

The ending beautifully shows the power of being an ally and standing up for fairness to improve a classroom and the school environment for all. I love that the classroom contains individuals from multiple ethnicities, abilities (kid with a hearing aid), and genders. An author's note provides a little more information on Eleanor Roosevelt and a fun illustrated graphic on being an ally. This is a gorgeously illustrated picture book which masterfully weaves historical information of Eleanor Roosevelt's fight for fairness into the current lives of kids and offers them examples of creating a more fair, fun, and just community.

Resources:

make rainbow friendship bracelets or flag.
check out the book's Reader Guide.

pair this with Change Sings: A Children's Anthem by Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Loren Long, Not So Small by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Paola Escobar, Speak Up by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Ebony Glenn, and Just Help! How to Build a Better World by Sonia Sotomayor, illustrated by Angela Dominguez.

If you missed my interview with Lee Wind and Kelly Mangan on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.