For Immediate Release: March 3, 2005
Further information: Tom McNaught (617) 514-1662
Devotion School to Present JFK's Grade School Records to Archives
Monday, March 7: To: All Assignment, News & Photo Editors
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation will welcome back former employee Shelley Sommer, author of John F. Kennedy: His Life and Legacy, a new book written specifically for middle school aged children on the life of President John F. Kennedy, at a book reading for 150 school children at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on Monday, March 7, 2005 at 1:00 pm in the Stephen Smith Center.
Sommer, who worked at the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation for 15 years, will be introduced to the school children by Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, who wrote the introduction to Sommer’s new biography of her father.
Among the schools represented at the book reading will be the Edward Devotion School, Brookline, [John F. Kennedy attended the Devotion School from kindergarten in 1921 to the beginning of third grade]; Orchard Gardens School, Roxbury; Inly School, Scituate; and the Paul A. Dever Elementary School, Dorchester. During the reading, John Dempsey, Principal of Devotion School, will make a special presentation of John F. Kennedy’s original Devotion School attendance and enrollment records to Caroline Kennedy for deposit in the archives of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
Press interested in covering the event are asked to contact Tom McNaught at 617-514-1656 or Tom.McNaught@JFKLFoundation.org. The press preview for John F. Kennedy: His Life and Legacy is a private event and is closed to members of the public.
Sommer formerly served as the Communications Director and the Director of the Profile in Courage Award Program at the Kennedy Library Foundation where she worked closely with Ms. Kennedy. She left the Kennedy Library Foundation in 2000 to study for a Master’s degree in children’s literature at Simmons College. Sommer also works at the Inly School where she manages the school library and leads a literature group for 6th graders. Sommer undertook the writing project after discovering that there has been little written specifically for children about President John F. Kennedy. She has designated a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
John F. Kennedy: His Life and Legacy is published by HarperCollins. (January 2005, $16.99, Ages 8-12). The new biography is presented in a child-friendly way and includes remarkable photos from the Kennedy family collection – many of which have never before been published. The book is on sale at the Museum Store of the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.