The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy

Smith is the last remaining child of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and her tender memoir recounts the family's early home life. Smith is the former U.S. ambassador to Ireland and a founder of VSA, an international organization providing arts and education opportunities for people with disabilities. Her narrative takes readers back in time to the 1930s%E2%80%931950s, when the now nearly mythic Kennedy family consisted of two devoted parents and their nine children. Smith includes a chapter on the prejudice against the Irish that Smith's great-grandparents experienced, and their subsequent rise within Boston society. She concludes her narrative as her brother Jack becomes the president of the United States. In between, Smith divulges domestic routines and rules; chronicles the family's love of the ocean and sports, especially touch football, sailing, and tennis; and explores her mother's insistence upon "cultivation of the mind" and learning about the world. Conversations during family dinners focused on current events or history. Smith sprinkles numerous family photos and quotes throughout the narrative, providing additional dimension. This is a sweet and loving look back at the Kennedy family, written from the perspective of a daughter as well as a sister. (Oct.)