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What Was the Secret to Betty White’s Success?
A children’s book offers a timeless answer: ‘She studies, prepares, and works hard.’
You’re never too young to fall in love with Betty White: This is the appealing subtext of My Little Golden Book About…Betty White, an upbeat picture-book biography for ages 2 to 5.
Author Deborah Hopkinson and illustrator Margeaux Lucas stay faithful to the gentle spirit of the Little Golden Books series in this sunnyside-up life of the actress, who died last week at the age of 99. In just 24 pages, they cover her childhood in California, her early years in television, her marriage to Password host Allen Ludden, and her acclaimed roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls and as a guest host of Saturday Night Live.
Without preaching, Hopkinson shows what White had to do succeed in Hollywood and in life. “Betty was bright, talented, beautiful, and funny, but she had to work hard to find jobs,” she writes. Hopkinson adds later on: “She studies, prepares, and works hard. That’s one reason she’s one of the most successful stars in television history!”
Not that White faced no setbacks. “When she was young, Betty wanted to be a forest ranger or a zookeeper,” Hopkinson says. “But those careers weren’t open to girls at that time.”
