Children’s Book Event Highlights
On Sunday, July 27th we hosted a special family-friendly event celebrating the inspiring legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt through the new children’s book Like That Eleanor – The Amazing Power of Being an Ally by Lee Wind and illustrated by Kelly Mangan. This beautifully illustrated story introduces young readers to the power of allyship and how just one voice—like Eleanor’s—can help create a more fair and compassionate world.
We had such a wonderful Sunday full of learning, arts and crafts, exploring and reading. We’re so appreciative of author Lee Wind, Eleanor’s great-granddaughter Anna Eleanor Fierst, Adam Blackman from Cardinal Rule Press, and the Hyde Park Library for spending the day with us and making this event so special. Thank you again to our wonderful sponsors for giving us the opportunity to make this a free event, and thank you to Lawrence and family for providing each child with a free copy of Like That Eleanor. We’re so glad everyone had a great time, and we’re looking forward to doing more events like this in the future!
If you’d like to read Lee Wind’s book Like That Eleanor – The Amazing Power of Being an Ally, you can check it out locally at the Hyde Park Library, or purchase it from Oblong Books.
Check out the photo gallery:
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”4″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″ maximum_entity_count=”500″]The children earned their allyship badge by pledging to always help others! Watch below:
About the Book
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.”
About the Author and Speakers
LEE WIND
Lee Wind is an award-winning writer of children’s lit writing books that would’ve changed his life as a young, Gay, Jewish kid, with other titles including Love of the Half-Eaten Peach and Red and Green and Blue and White. He also writes a popular blog called “I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read?” where he inspires others with words his younger self only ever dreamed of saying. Lee currently lives in Los Angeles with his husband of over 25 years, where he also raised a daughter. You can visit Lee online at leewind.org
ANNA ELEANOR FIERST
Anna Eleanor Fierst is a great-granddaughter of Eleanor Roosevelt and the daughter of Mrs. Roosevelt’s oldest grandchild, Eleanor Roosevelt Seagraves. Anna has a professional background in publication editing and marketing and managed the communications department at the Woman’s National Democratic Club before becoming its president in 2013. Upon retiring from that official role, and just before the pandemic, she joined the Board of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center (ERVK) to promote the values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Her main goal now is to modernize one of ERVK’s “legacy” programs and build programming support for this and a bold new endeavor, the annual Bravery in Literature Award. A native of New York State and Washington DC, Anna currently serves as the Vice Chair of the National Women’s Foundation, an organization that promotes women’s history, youth voting and civic engagement. She and her husband raised two children in Bethesda, Maryland.
This event was supported by:
This event was supported by:
Thank you to Lawrence and family for providing free copies of Like That Eleanor for every child to take home.
Upcoming Events:
The Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards
October 11, 2025 | 7 pm EST
The Bardavon 1869 Opera House
Poughkeepsie NY
About the Eleanor Roosevelt Center
The Eleanor Roosevelt Center is dedicated to breathing new life into the precedents set and the legacies left behind by the First Lady of the World, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. We strive to be Eleanor Roosevelt’s heart, mind and voice in realizing a better world – a world of acceptance, opportunity, dignity and respect for all.