Abe Lincoln : The Boy Who Loved Books - Hardcover

Winters, Kay; Carpenter, Nancy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689825544 ISBN 13: 9780689825545

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

Learn about the early life of Abraham Lincoln in this picture book biography that Kirkus Reviews calls “a moving tribute to the power of books and words.”

In a tiny log cabin a boy listened with delight to the storytelling of his ma and pa. He traced letters in sand, snow, and dust. He borrowed books and walked miles to bring them back.

When he grew up, he became the sixteenth president of the United States. His name was Abraham Lincoln.

He loved books.
They changed his life.
He changed the world.

About this title

About the Author

Kay Winters was a classroom teacher and a college instructor before becoming a full-time writer. She is the author of Wolf Watch, named to the Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Books of the Year list, and also an ABA Kids’ Pick of the Lists. Other books include Tiger Trail, Did You See What I Saw?: Poems About School, and the Teeny Tiny Ghost series. She loves visiting schools to speak about her books. Kay lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Earl. Visit her Web site at KayWinters.com.

Nancy Carpenter is the acclaimed illustrator of Thomas Jefferson and the Mammoth Hunt, Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine, Fannie in the Kitchen, and Loud Emily, among other books. Her works have garnered many honors, including two Christopher Awards and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her at NancyCarpenter.website.

Reviews

Carpenter's (Fannie in the Kitchen) expressive oil paintings lend an appropriately sturdy air to this picture book biography of the 16th president. Winters (Wolf Watch) traces Lincoln's path "from the wilderness to the White House," beginning in the one-room cabin where he first spoke and progressing to his later career as a self-taught lawyer and politician who "aimed his words at wrongs he'd like to right." With an eye for details of particular interest to a young audience (such as the fact that as a boy, Lincoln plowed with a book in his back pocket for reading during frequent breaks), the author highlights the main points of Lincoln's life. Her free-verse narrative takes on a suitably homespun directness ("His ideas stretched./ His questions rose./ His dreams stirred," she writes as young Abe watches people pass by on the Cumberland Trail), a quality echoed in Carpenter's choice of oils on rough-textured canvas, in a style reminiscent of Grandma Moses's work. Frontier life unfolds in warm earth-toned shades, and the artist sets a brisk pace by interspersing smaller vignettes with full-bleed vistas. The pages bustle with spry figures, including Lincoln himself, a wiry lad with a shock of unruly hair, big ears and highwater pants. An author's note fleshes out more of the important events of Lincoln's life. This fine introduction to a president over whom, from boyhood, "letters cast a magic spell" points up a valuable message-that of the importance of words in shaping ideas and lives. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

K-Gr. 2. Using simple language, bare-bones details, and uncluttered illustrations, Winters introduces America's sixteenth president. She recounts events from Lincoln's childhood in Kentucky and Indiana and his young adulthood in New Salem, Illinois. The engaging narrative emphasizes Lincoln's love of books and reading, which flourished despite his lack of formal education. Carpenter's oil-on-canvas illustrations include many details of pioneer life and focus on Lincoln's humble beginnings. An author's note filling in some information omitted from the story is appended. This will be a good choice for reading aloud, although many children will want to follow up with a more complete biography, such as Cheryl Harness' Young Abe Lincoln: The Frontier Days: 1809-1837 (1996) or Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington: 1837-1865 (1997). Kay Weisman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689825544
• ISBN 13: 9780689825545
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40