#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Michelle Obama's worldwide
bestselling memoir, Becoming, is now adapted for young readers.
Michelle Robinson was born on the South Side of Chicago. From her modest
beginnings, she would become Michelle Obama, the inspiring and powerful
First Lady of the United States, when her husband, Barack Obama, was
elected the forty-fourth president. They would be the first Black First
Family in the White House and serve the country for two terms.
Growing up, Michelle and her older brother, Craig, shared a bedroom in
their family's upstairs apartment in her great-aunt's house. Her
parents, Fraser and Marian, poured their love and energy into their
children. Michelle's beloved dad taught his kids to work hard, keep
their word, and remember to laugh. Her mom showed them how to think for
themselves, use their voice, and be unafraid.
But life soon took her far from home. With determination, carefully made
plans, and the desire to achieve, Michelle was eager to expand the
sphere of her life from her schooling in Chicago. She went to Princeton
University, where she learned what it felt like to be the only Black
woman in the room. She then went to Harvard Law School, and after
graduating returned to Chicago and became a high-powered lawyer. Her
plans changed, however, when she met and fell in love with Barack Obama.
From her early years of marriage, and the struggle to balance being a
working woman, a wife, and the mom of two daughters, Michelle Obama
details the shift she made to political life and what her family endured
as a result of her husband's fast-moving political career and campaign
for the presidency. She shares the glamour of ball gowns and world
travel, and the difficulties of comforting families after tragedies. She
managed to be there for her daughters' swim competitions and attend
plays at their schools without catching the spotlight, while defining
and championing numerous initiatives, especially those geared toward
kids, during her time as First Lady.
Most important, this volume for young people is an honest and
fascinating account of Michelle Obama's life led by example. She shares
her views on how all young people can help themselves as well as help
others, no matter their status in life. She asks readers to realize that
no one is perfect, and that the process of becoming is what matters,
as finding yourself is ever evolving. In telling her story with
boldness, she asks young readers: Who are you, and what do you want to
become?
