The Good Neighbor

I didn't watch Mr. Rogers Neighborhood when I was a kid. I have no idea why – it seems like an amazing show. I've watched a few episodes since as an adult and have been amazed. Reading this had me tearing up in places at the empathy displayed by Fred Rogers throughout his life. There's something to just listening to people and telling them they're important just the way they are.

I didn't watch Mr. Rogers Neighborhood when I was a kid. I have no idea why – it seems like an amazing show. I've watched a few episodes since as an adult and have been amazed. Reading this had me tearing up in places at the empathy displayed by Fred Rogers throughout his life. There's something to just listening to people and telling them they're important just the way they are.

Fred Rogers is my hero. He's kind and gentle and clever and, best of all, he listens.

I read this book with trepidation. Would my hero be dethroned? Would this be the story of a person wildly different from the Mister Rogers I adore?

I can tell you, happily, that it is not. Every person, without exception, who met Rogers found him to be exactly as he presented himself on television. He wasn't a saint—-sometimes he lost his temper and he had troubles with his sons when they were teens—-but he was a very good human being. This is his story.