"Hot Dogs for the Queen" Author Speaks to Students about Eleanor Roosevelt

For a group of students at , the culmination of their project was meeting a woman who knew the former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The students from Michael Cerniglia's class also met an expert on Roosevelt from the National Parks.

The meeting, was part of a historical study project students in Cerniglia's Life Skills class do every year by focusing on a famous person. On Friday, they spoke to students from four other school districts around the country and discussed their findings on Eleanor Roosevelt.

"The students get a sense of pride from being able to share the information they've learned," Cerniglia said.

Cerniglia began teaching his students about the famous first lady in the fall and his lesson plan opted for a more hands-on approach. The students painted portraits of Roosevelt, built a replica of her stone cottage home and filmed a movie about her life.

"History is so abstract," he said. "You have to re-create it in a way that students can understand it. And I thought it's through a series of paintings and that's where we started."

The teacher contacted Teaching the Hudson Valley, which helps educators and students discover and appreciate the natural, historical and cultural treasures of the area. Through that collaboration Susanne Norris, educational specialist with the National Park Service, was invited as the guest speaker and Shirley Jackson the author of "A Hot Dog for the Queen" spoke about her friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt.

"I thought it was also really important to show Eleanor Roosevelt's life as a positive role model, as a positive woman and what she did, and what she stood up for and in the time she did," Cerniglia said. "I think it really resonated in a lot of the students."

Norris said the video conference allowed the students to learn more about the famous woman and added that she hoped they made a personal connection with the kids.

Cerniglia and his students arranged the classroom to resemble a talk show, with Jackson as the guest and the students serving as hosts asking her questions about her life.

Jackson was a young African-American girl from Hyde Park when she first met her neighbor Eleanor Roosevelt and developed a close relationship with the woman who is known as a compelling humanitarian and champion for women’s rights. Her book "Hot Dogs for the Queen" is a collection of Jackson's treasured childhood memories of Roosevelt.

When asked what three words Jackson would use to describe the former first lady, she said "friendly, caring and involved." Students were beaming with excitement and there was no shortage of questions about Eleanor Roosevelt – from favorite pizza toppings to Jackson's favorite childhood memory, the topics she would discuss with the former first lady to what encourage Jackson to write the book and how it had changed her life. 

Ever since her book came out in 2009, Jackson, who now lives in Mt. Vernon, said she has been traveling to elementary schools speaking about the life of Eleanor Roosevelt. She said she wrote the book because she was encourage by others to tell her story since history is something people like to hear from those who are still alive, she said. 

"Her philosophy was to be kind to everybody," Jackson said of Eleanor Roosevelt, when asked by a student if there was something she learned from the former first lady. "No matter how rich or poor or whatever color they were, that you should be kind."

Norris also spoke about Eleanor Roosevelt and the fact she stood up for what she believed in, fought for human rights, spoke about peace to people around the world.

"[Eleanor Roosevelt] acted on her compassion, it wasn't that she just cared about things, she did things about it and stood up to people in a time when that was not common and that was not done," Cerniglia said of what he wanted the students to take away from studying the famous woman. "I want the students to know they can make a difference too."

Participating schools were Bethlehem Elementary School, GA, Muhlenberg School District, PA, Ossining Union Free school district, Shaker Junior High School, NY.

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