Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books

by Kay Winters, Nancy Carpenter (Illustrator)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416912682
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	01/01/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	538,327
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

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.

Editorial Reviews

PW called this a "fine introduction to a president over whom, from boyhood, `letters cast a magic spell.' " Ages 5-8. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 2-An introduction to Lincoln's childhood that concentrates on his education. Throughout the book, there are references to his thoughts and feelings-"His ideas stretched. His questions rose. His dreams were stirred." The prose is formatted like poetry, the print is small, and the sentences are short. The oil paintings on canvas have a folk-art quality, with young Lincoln shown as lanky and dark haired. Some pictures are humorous, as when the classroom teacher snores on while Abe displays his knowledge of subtraction. A spread depicts the family's hardscrabble move to Little Pigeon Creek, where "no cabin waited" and they lived for a time in a "half-faced camp" that was exposed to the elements on one side. Another spread depicts a wintry graveside scene and describes the grief Lincoln felt when his mother died. The legend of his honesty-walking miles to return change-is summed up. Lincoln's political career is touched on briefly, while his wife, children, and assassination are mentioned only in an author's note. Stephen Krensky's Abe Lincoln and the Muddy Pig (Aladdin, 2002) also concentrates on Lincoln's childhood and is more accessible to beginning readers. Because of the popularity of the subject, libraries already owning that work might also want to consider this title, which is a solid classroom read-aloud.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

In a moving tribute to the power of books and words, Winters (But Mom, Everyone Else Does, p. 1239, etc.) introduces a young backwoods child who watched "peddlers, pioneers, / politicians, traders, slaves / pass by," down the old Cumberland Trail, until "his ideas stretched. / His questions rose. / His dreams were stirred"—and he was caught with a love of learning that carried him "from the wilderness / to the White House." In a mix of vignettes and larger scenes, Carpenter (A Far-Fetched Story, 2002, etc.) plants her lanky lad, generally with book in hand, amid a variety of rustic and early American scenes as he passes from infant to president. Using strong, economical language, Winter recounts selected incidents from Lincoln’s life that point up several aspects of his character, sums up her thesis at the end ("He learned the power of words / and used them well"), then closes with a supplemental afterword that does not, unlike Amy Cohn’s Abraham Lincoln (2002), misrepresent the Emancipation Proclamation. For bookish young readers in search of a role model, here’s the best one since Jean Fritz introduced St. Columba in The Man Who Loved Books (1981). (Picture book/biography. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews