Reviews

The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King

stacyk04's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring relaxing medium-paced

5.0

blaineduncan's review

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3.0

There is a bit of sadness that a life as touching as Mister Rogers’ doesn’t get the lyrical treatment it deserves. This biography doles out many interesting stories of Fred Rogers’ life with no flair: the text is overly plain, lacking voice that even a journalistic eye should be able to improve.

However, if it’s Fred Rogers’ beautiful philosophy on life and how those came to be, this book will suffice.

If nothing else, the biography is worth the time just to reiterate Mister Rogers’ motifs on life, which are striking and resonant in their simplistic tenderness.

harleyrae's review

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4.0

I really really enjoyed this book. This was such an interesting looking into Fred Rogers. I grew up watching Mr. Rogers Neighborhood so it was nice to learn a bit more about this man who took up much of my childhood. This book left my feeling happy. I am so glad I decided to take the time to read this.

lhaugen15's review against another edition

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Just couldn’t get into it.

vonderbash's review

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5.0

An audiobook about Mr. Rogers read by LeVar Burton was the most soothing, peaceful experience. PBS Forever!

protoman21's review

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4.0

I love the man and I definitely learned some interesting things from this book, but I think the fact that he led a quiet and private life left too much space to fill and the author didn't always find great material to fill that space. Some facts and anecdotes were even brought up multiple times. Still a very nice tribute to a very nice man.

hilaryannbrown's review

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3.0

I'd like to give 5 stars for Mr. Rogers himself, but I have to give 3 stars for the writing style and pacing of this book. I think I would have liked it better if I hadn't seen the documentary first, which I enjoyed much more. The book is a bit long-winded and repetitive, but there is still a lot to learn from Mr. Rogers' life and ministry.

alysalovely's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I love this book. 
Apparently I read it in 2019 and forgot, but hearing these stories again via LeVar Burton was great.

A really nice uplifting story!

coxrox5's review against another edition

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Boring, repetitive and badly written. It felt like a high school paper with a minimum word count. 

bargainsleuth's review against another edition

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3.0

I enjoyed learning more about Mr. Rogers, but the author made it tough. The reader does not need to read about the same thing three or four times in one chapter, just stated differently. Also, I really don't think it's necessary for most of the back story, like the history of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the town in which Rogers grew up. This book could have easily been 100 pages less with a good editor.

This is the second book about Fred Rogers that I've read, and again I'm disappointed. For such a good man, he needs better biographers.