Abraham Lincoln turns 200 on Feb. 12. Where have all the years gone? Not just a corny question, given how present the 16th president is as the 44th takes office. In a myriad of ways, almost every day, Lincoln is referenced to underscore timeless lessons about unity, equality, freedom, team building and charity for all.
Publishers have jumped on the Lincoln bicentennial bandwagon, publishing many books to commemorate the big day. Some are overview biographies, but others try for fresh angles - boyhood adventures, marriage, his sons, allies and rivals, the Civil War and his death, for example. So with hundreds of children's books about Lincoln in print, it is fair to ask: How many more do we really need? And the answer: the good ones!
Three fall into the overview category, each happily for a different age group and each providing a firm foundation. Aimed at the youngest is Our Abe Lincoln: An Old Tune With New Lyrics, adapted by Jim Aylesworth and illustrated by Barbara McClintock (Scholastic; 32 pages; $16.99; ages 4-8). A dozen spirited verses cover Lincoln's life and character from the wilderness to the White House and to his final resting place.
The story can be read aloud or, better yet, sung to the melody of "The Old Grey Mare," as was the popular Lincoln campaign song that inspired this charming biography. The watercolor and ink art is droll, with childlike figures, short and squat, even the lanky Lincoln. There are some extras, too: end notes to explain and expand each verse, the music complete with chords, and a recipe for Mary Todd Lincoln's Vanilla Almond Cake. (That way she gets more than just one honorable mention.)
The biographical portion of the book is framed as a school play put on by multicultural cast of costumed kids. Teachers will appreciate the practical idea. But the modern-day class also serves as an important reminder of Lincoln's "noble deeds" and enduring legacy, representative of a deepening vision of what unity can really mean.
More attuned in tone to the complex man himself is Abe's Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln, written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Kadir Nelson That's because Rappaport allows Lincoln to eloquently speak for himself in well-selected excerpts, the underpinnings of her gracefully layered biography. Yes, she recounts some familiar milestones in his life, but always to illuminate evident qualities of heart and mind that propel Lincoln to high office and high purpose.
Their words, taken in tandem, tell an epic tale of individual struggle, hard-fought success, inspired leadership, national tragedy and social progress. The telling is amplified by Nelson's dramatic renderings of Lincoln and his times. Grand outdoor scenes, candlelit interiors, unsettling views of slavery, stirring crowd scenes and stately Lincoln portraits make an impressive gallery of visual history. That Lincoln sometimes appears wooden and that skin tones are often too coppery takes little from the overall impact of this accessible and appreciative book.
Just as Rappaport provides in "Abe's Honest Words" a worthy companion to her award-winning "Martin's Big Words," author Candace Fleming turns to her own signature format for The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary (Schwartz & Wade; 200 pages; $24.99$; ages 10-14.) Check out her earlier scrapbook treatments of Ben Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. For elegance and scope, nothing compares with her broad and deep examination of how the lives of husband and wife converge, for better and for worse.
On pages that look like an old-time newspaper are short pieces that zero in on familiar and unfamiliar aspects of the couple's story - from their beginnings as "Backwoods Boy" and "Bluegrass Girl" through courtship and marriage, their tumultuous personal and public lives in the White House, and the assassination with its tragic aftermath. Especially noteworthy is the humane treatment of Mary Todd Lincoln, often either skimmed over or misunderstood.
Original source material, including early photographs along with reproduced cartoons, catalogs, letters, paintings and such, are interspersed throughout and integral to the package. Fleming is to be lauded for her passionate five years of R&D on this astounding project. She researched the Lincolns with the keen eye of a historian and developed their shared story with the open heart of a fellow human being.
Ages 4 and up
Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall Thin Tale (Introducing His Forgotten Frontier Friend) by Deborah Hopkinson; illustrated by John Hendrix (Schwartz & Wade; 40 pages; $19.99; ages 4-8). In 1816, "on the other side of yesterday before computers or cars," Abe defies his mama and, with his first friend, traverses a spring creek. But this folksy yarn is about more than near disaster, being an exercise in how to reconstruct history and construct meaning from it.
Abraham Lincoln Comes Home by Robert Burleigh; illustrated by Wendell Minor (Holt; 40 pages; $16.95; ages 6-10). In this somber picture book, a father and son travel by wagon to watch Lincoln's funeral train pass on its slow and sad way from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Ill. Moving prose and dramatic night scenes show them as part of a grieving yet grateful nation, paying homage to a fallen hero.
Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship by Nikki Giovanni; illustrated by Bryan Collier (Holt; 40 pages; $16.95; ages 6-up). A historic interracial friendship is seen at a White House celebration in honor of Lincoln's second inauguration. That friendship merits more than allowed in this well-intentioned picture book that offers high interest, to be sure, but is undermined by stiffness in prose and painting. And how about some source notes?
Mr. Lincoln's Boys: Being the Mostly True Adventures of Abraham Lincoln's Trouble-Making Sons, Tad and Willie by Staton Rabin; illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline .A beleaguered president worries about real soldiers in battle and a toy soldier in the White House in this vignette, expanded from actual accounts, perhaps beyond their literary limits. Still, the character studies are compelling - those rascally boys and Lincoln himself, indulgent father and compassionate commander in chief.
What Lincoln Said by Sarah L. Thomson; illustrated by James E. Ransome "Resolve to be honest in all events." "Just think of such a one as me as president." "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong." The honest, humble and honorable Lincoln comes into friendly focus in this surprisingly upbeat biography built on his own words.
No comments:
Post a Comment