Hillary Rodham Clinton: Do All the Good You Can

Gr 7 Up—This comprehensive, well-documented account of Hillary Clinton's life and public service begins with her Chicago childhood and ends with the early days of her current presidential candidacy. The book draws on many sources, especially the politician's own accounts of her life, to describe how Clinton's desire to "do all the good you can" has guided her beliefs, choices, and actions. The author is admiring of Clinton, praising her many accomplishments and framing some of Clinton's mistakes as the result of her drive to "do good" and achieve her personal and public policy goals. Levinson is critical of Clinton's vote to authorize the war in Iraq but is more understanding of some of her missteps and occasionally blames politics as the motivation for those who criticized or opposed her. Clinton's life has been covered in numerous YA biographies, and this volume offers much more detail than titles such as Michael Burgan's Hillary Clinton (Raintree, 2014). However, at least some of those details, such as lists of the reasons why Clinton's healthcare initiative failed, her improvements to the White House, and the intricacies of the Democratic presidential delegate selection process, are dry and detract from the main narrative. The level of information in this book will be helpful to report writers, but there's a little too much praise of Clinton to make this truly well-balanced. As Clinton's candidacy progresses, this title may date quickly.