Lincoln Tells a Joke - Kathleen Krull & Paul Brewer

How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country)
Illustrated by Stacy Innerst
Harcourt Children's Books, 2010
$17.00
32 pages
Endpapers: wide red and blue spatter stripes with small white stars sprinkled on

I love Kathleen Krull's voice. She writes biographies for kids with really neat information and interesting point-of-view. She is joined by her husband for this biography.

I've never heard of Abraham Lincoln's love of jokes and laughter. This engaging story details his love of words as it tells of his many successes and even more failures. The way Krull depicts the man makes him seem real. Flesh and blood, complete with bad hair days.

Included are many quotes and many insights into Lincoln's personality and life.

"You may fool all the the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time." I didn't know that came from Lincoln! How about, "Better to remain silent and be though a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." ! ! !

This is a wonderful short telling of Abraham Lincoln's life. The laughter and joking references are terrific, but so are the facts about our 16th president that make the man who he was. Interesting. Well written. Great information.

(The illustrations are okay, but it's the words that carry this book.)

Our Abe Lincoln - Jim Aylesworth

An Old Tune with New Lyrics
Illustrator: Barbara McClintock
for: Young kids
Rating: 5
2009
$16.99

A class is putting on a play about Abe Lincoln, accompanied by simple words to the thune of "The Old Grey Mare." I sang the words as I read from page to page. The following is from the middle of the book:

Friend Abe Lincoln go sent of to Washington
........Sent of to Washington
........Sent off to Washington
Friend Abe Lincoln got sent too to Washington
........Many campaigns ago.
Kind Abe Lincoln then led as the president
........Led as the president
........Led as the president
Kind Abe Lincoln then led as the president
........Many cruel days ago.

Simple. You get the picture. It tells the story of Abraham Lincoln simply, first facts for younger kids to have and hold and take with them through life.

There's no white - pale yellow instead - one full page is a framed illustration, the facing page has the stage curtains on top and side with additional drawring across the bottom, beneath the lyrics.

Very, very nice.

Abraham Lincoln Comes Home - Robert Burleigh

Illustrator: Wendell Minor
For: Kids, but they need to be old enough to know who Lincoln was
Published: August, 2008
Rating: 4.5
Read: today
Endpapers: Enlarged corner of the American flag with the words: "WE MOURN/ OUR CHIEF/ HAS FALLEN

Edge-of-page to edge-of-page gentle, meaningful illustrations accompany a similarly gentle story that eloquently says a lot with very few words.

A young boy and his father ride their horse and buggy, its single lantern bobbing, through the darkness of the prairie to the place where the railroad passes through. Bonfires burn along the rails as the people wait for the train carrying Lincoln's body to pass. Slowly it appears, with a picture of Lincoln atop the cowcatcher. Slowly it passes, so that the country can pay its last respects to an honored and much-loved man. For 1600 miles, by hearse and by train, Lincoln's body was carried from Washington D.C. back to Springfield, Illinois. It is said that about thirty million people were able to see the train, march in a procession behind the hearse, or attend one of about a dozen funeral services.

The media has certainly changed things. This story, these illustrations, hold a reverance, a simplicity, that seems absent today. It's a beautiful book, celebrating an exceptional life, adding an additional chapter to a story many of us know well. Bravo.