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

3.0

5 stars for the man and all he stood for. 3.5 stars for his biography. It is not lost on me that I listened to the biography of Fred Roger, a man known for his slow pace and willingness to take time, on 2x audio. The book was just 5 hours too long for the content. There are interesting stories I hadn’t heard before and times when I teared up at some of the sweet memories, but in general it was presented in a pretty surface level and did seem a little biased. Though to be fair the author does acknowledge that Mr. Rogers always faced people who thought he was too good to be true. I don’t believe that. I believe he was just who he seemed to be, but in general when you only allow a person to be portrayed for his goodness he becomes unrelatable. The information about his sensitivity as a child that influenced his work with children, and his staunch advocacy that children’s television should not be used as a marketing ploy, as well as all of the work he did to understand child psychology and refusal to be pressured into the fast paced knowledge development of new television shows was really great. I would have liked more stories about his openness towards other religions and his studies in the areas. I just would have liked few brief glimpses and more in depth in order to make this a higher rated book.

That said, I still cry whenever I see him on TV. He truly was s special man who cannot be duplicated.