Jill A biography of the First Lady

Review by Choice Review

Journalists Pace (The Associated Press) and Superville (Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern Univ.; The Associated Press), both of whom have covered the White House extensively, have written a compelling biography of the nation's 46th First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden. Dr. Biden is the only First Lady to hold down a professional career in addition to her ceremonial duties, currently teaching at Northern Virginia Community College. After a failed marriage, Jill met and dated then-Senator Joe Biden, a recent widower with two boys. The two married in 1977, and Jill often felt she had to prove herself to the tight-knit Biden clan. In 1987 Joe was rushed to Walter Reed hospital with a a life-threatening aneurysm. When his siblings tried to make the important life-and-death decisions, Jill took over. "In that moment, I truly felt I was a Biden," she recalls in the book. The text also charts Dr. Biden's evolution as a political spouse, from Joe's first presidential campaign in 1988 through 2020. The authors make good use of Jill Biden's autobiography Where the Light Enters (2019), as well as interviews conducted during her current tenure in the White House. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through faculty. --Bob Miller, University of Cincinnati-Clermont

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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Review by Booklist Review

This benign biography of First Lady Jill Biden provides detailed coverage of her life and career set within political and personal context. Based on recent interviews with Biden and her family friends and associates and material taken from memoirs by both Jill and the president, the chronological text weaves together multiple sources to create a pleasing narrative about a hard-working, dedicated educator and devoted wife and mother. Throughout, Dr. B (her preferred professional name, as she's still a working teacher) comes across as down-to-earth, approachable, and warm, whether she's providing hands-on support to military families, hanging out with Michelle Obama, or physically protecting her husband from protestors, as she did during a presidential campaign speech in California. The authors share Biden's candid observations about being wooed by a future president (he promised her that her life wouldn't change), tragic and joyous family milestones, her faith, her causes, and presidential campaigns, defeats, and victories. Up to date through late 2021, this is a satisfying, enlightening profile of a talented woman redefining the role of First Lady.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

First Lady Jill Biden "stepped into the White House as a symbol of reliability and relatability--a woman fiercely protective of her family and her passions and ambitions," according to this amiable if unenlightening biography. Associated Press reporters Pace and Superville move briskly from Jill's childhood in 1950s and '60s New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where she was the eldest of five sisters, through her first marriage at age 19 and divorce four years later, to her 1975 first date with Delaware senator Joe Biden, whose wife and daughter had died in a car accident three years earlier, leaving him with two young sons, Beau and Hunter. After marrying Joe in 1977, Jill pursued master's and doctoral degrees while raising their daughter, Ashley, alongside Beau and Hunter, and taught in public high schools and community colleges. Pace and Superville draw a persuasive portrait of Jill Biden as a dedicated educator and protective wife and mother who "bemoans the corrosive nature of modern American politics, which has repeatedly put her family in the crosshairs," though their subject remains a somewhat guarded and elusive figure throughout. This well-mannered biography has few surprises. Agent: Bridget Matzie, Aevitas Creative. (Apr.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

Biden Owens isn't simply the younger sister of President Joe Biden, here recalling their childhood in Delaware and helping to raise Biden's sons after the tragic deaths of their mother and sister. She has also been among Biden's key political advisers, having managed nearly all his political campaigns, including his successful presidential bid, and can offer important insights into both the president and U.S. politics generally. Her memoir tells a big story; with a 150,000-copy first printing. Pace and Superville, Washington bureau chief and White House reporter, respectively, for the Associated Press, have been following the First Lady closely and here present a thoroughgoing portrait, moving from her childhood, through her first marriage and divorce, marriage to Joe Biden, ascension to the public eye, commitment to her children, to ongoing career in education. The book presents her as a model for a wide range of women. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Becoming Jill Biden. Associated Press reporters Pace and Superville draw on memoirs by Jill, Joe, and Hunter Biden; published interviews, articles, and biographical material; and an interview with Jill herself to create an admiring biography of the first lady. Born in 1951, the eldest of five daughters, Jill Jacobs grew up in the affluent farming town of Hammonton, New Jersey, where she was nurtured by a close-knit family and loving relatives. By her own account, her childhood was "really beautiful, idyllic." At a junior college, she briefly studied fashion merchandising before enrolling at the University of Delaware, where she changed her focus to English and education. At 18, she married a fellow student, but the marriage floundered; by 1975, she was divorced. Joe Biden pursued her as soon as he was given her phone number by his brother, and he proposed multiple times before she finally accepted. Reluctant because her first marriage had failed, Jill was afraid of hurting Joe's two little boys in case it didn't work out. Of course, it worked out splendidly. The authors portray Jill as a devoted, practical, energetic mother and wife, able to juggle family life, public responsibilities, and teaching, to which she is wholly committed. In 2007, she earned a doctorate in educational leadership, and after moving to Washington, D.C., when Joe became vice president, Jill joined the faculty at Northern Virginia Community College, where she continues to teach. For much of her involvement in her husband's career, bipartisan friendships and cordiality were the norm, vastly different from the rampant polarization that characterizes the current political landscape. In short, brisk chapters, the authors recount Jill's busy, productive life: engaging in Joe's presidential runs, supporting military families, and responding to family challenges, including the death of Beau Biden from brain cancer and Hunter's problems with addiction. Running, the authors discovered, helps Jill get "physical and mental space from daily life." A fond portrait of a woman anyone would want as a friend. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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