Grace's Letter to Lincoln

On the eve of the 1860 presidential election, as war clouds gather and the South threatens to secede, eleven-year-old Grace decides to help Abraham Lincoln get elected by writing and advising him to grow a beard.

Gr 2-4-As part of the movement to elect Lincoln, Grace's family helps organize a rally in their small New York town. After seeing the candidate's image on a poster, Grace decides to write to him suggesting that he might win more votes if he grew a beard. Lincoln answers the child's letter and she becomes a neighborhood celebrity. When his victory train passes through on its way to Washington, the president singles Grace out as the girl who gave him good advice. Based on a true incident, this short transitional story will satisfy readers of historical fiction. The limited role of women in politics and slaves escaping to Canada provide subplots and background to the story. Some children may need help sorting the family and neighborhood people out in the first chapters, but this is still a good selection for classroom studies and individual reading. Occasional pen-and-ink drawings illustrate the story. Reproductions of Grace Bedell's letter and Lincoln's reply are included.-Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA

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