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Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Glen Allen Library | Children's book | 38674130000548 | JUV BIO LINCOLN ABRAHAM KALMAN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Tuckahoe Library | Children's book | 38674120006570 | JUV BIO LINCOLN ABRAHAM KALMAN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Twin Hickory Library | Children's book | 38674112247091 | JUV BIO LINCOLN ABRAHAM KALMAN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Twin Hickory Library | Children's book | 38674113112815 | JUV BIO LINCOLN ABRAHAM KALMAN | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Abraham Lincoln is one of the first giants of history children are introduced to, and now Maira Kalman brings him to life with her trademark style and enthusiasm. Lincoln's legacy is everywhere - there he is on your penny and five-dollar bill. And we are still the United States because Lincoln helped hold them together.
But who was he, really? The little girl in this book wants to find out. Among the many other things, she discovers our sixteenth president was a man who believed in freedom for all, had a dog named Fido, loved Mozart, apples, and his wife's vanilla cake, and kept his notes in his hat. From his boyhood in a log cabin to his famous presidency and untimely death, Kalman shares Lincoln's remarkable life with young readers in a fresh and exciting way.
Reviews (6)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-In this personable presentation, a young girl passes a man on the street who looks like Abraham Lincoln. The encounter makes her wonder about that great president and she heads to the library to find out more. This accessible, brief introduction to the 16th president is told from the child's perspective as though she is sharing what she discovered in her research. Including highlights from Lincoln's childhood, his love of debate, his concern over the war, and his family, this is both an informational overview and a childlike imagining of the president. Reader Elizabeth Cottle does an excellent job with her pacing, capturing both the emotional wonderings of the child telling the story and the fascinating details shared from Lincoln's life. VERDICT Young children who are just being introduced to President Lincoln will find this to be a satisfying, fulfilling beginning that may lead to more investigation into the life of this inspiring man.-Deanna Romriell, Salt Lake City Public Library, UT © Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
As she did in The Principles of Uncertainty, Kalman transforms digital material-in this case, her New York Times illustrated column "In Love with A. Lincoln"-into analogue format. Kalman's fond and bittersweet account of our lanky 16th president evokes both a schoolgirl crush ("I got lost in photos of his unusual face.... I could look at him forever") and a Yankee's steely, sorrowful perspective on the price of freedom (still lifes include a bullet-torn Civil War uniform and John Wilkes Booth's pistol). Abstract gouaches-ranging from tangy colors to dolorous grays-put a contemporary spin on the iconic log cabin, Springfield house, stovepipe hat, and "his favorite vanilla cake" with ribbons of red icing. Portraits include a pensive Lincoln, seated alone or with family ("He was thinking about... doing good for mankind. And maybe he was also thinking about getting a birthday present for his little son"); Sojourner Truth; and Lincoln's pale-eyed stepmother, wearing a severe bonnet and black dress a la Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein. Rather than pen a textbook profile, Kalman portrays heartfelt admiration through poignant imagery. Ages 5-8. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
A young girl walking through a park passes a Lincoln look-alike and begins to wonder about our sixteenth president. "Who was he?" she asks herself. Being a clever girl, she goes to the library (a van Gogh-inspired room) to find out. She discovers facts but gets "lost in the photos of his unusual face. I stared at one. I could look at him forever." Never pedantic, but through a natural structure that follows the young narrator's own thought processes, the narrative lists some basic facts she discovers about Lincoln's life and then moves to her childlike musings, printed in a more casual font, that personalize this account. "I wonder if Mary and Abraham had nicknames for each other. Did she call him Linky? Did he call her Little Plumpy? Maybe." Other bits of Lincoln lore (objects such as Mary's vanilla cake and Lincoln's top hat) inspire further questions. The story gradually becomes more sophisticated, introducing war and slavery, for example, and these musings, still interspersed with questions, conclude with Lincoln's death. A gloomy funeral scene with the riderless horse is depicted in grays and blacks, a sobering, even startling, note among the profusion of bright gouache illustrations that are as colorful as springtime in Arles. Additional back matter extends the text, but it is the narrator's concluding words as she faces the Lincoln Memorial that best encourages historical examination: "Look into his beautiful eyes. Just look." betty carter From HORN BOOK, Copyright The Horn Book, used with permission.
Kirkus Review
(Picture book/biography. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Just what is Abraham Lincoln's legacy? In this intimate portrait, a young girl walking in the park passes a man who looks like Lincoln, heads to the library, and dives into research so compelling that she has to share it with us. What follows is an account that hits the familiar notes, embellished with circular, childlike wonderings. We all know about Lincoln's wife and family. But our narrator wonders if they had nicknames for one another. We know he was consumed with the fight for freedom and justice. But our narrator wonders if he thought about what to get his little son for his birthday, too. The facts are laid out in an austere black typeface and the wonderings in loose, hand-lettered script, with certain words in color for emphasis. Kalman's primitive polychrome illustrations marry the two narratives into a meaningful whole, combining unexpected color choice and sophisticated composition for powerful emotional impact. Comprehensive endnotes fill in more facts and cite sources, but this is as much a personal impression of Lincoln's legacy as an informational biography.--Barthelmess, Thom Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Young George Washington, long a bête noire of fibbing schoolchildren with his "cannot tell a lie" pieties, is humanized in this comic account of his early years. The opening spread shows George grabbing his powdered wig as he awakens on his seventh birthday, inadequately feted by his family. At one point a peevish George mutters to his half brother Augustine, "Someday, I'll be the boss of you." Purists may resist Washington as a moody youngster, but McNamara (author of last year's charming "Three Little Pigs" knockoff, "The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot") knows how to win over 6-year-old fans. The only thing they'll resent is no longer getting his birthday off from school. LOOKING AT LINCOLN Written and illustrated by Maira Kalman. 32 pp. Nancy Paulsen Books. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 5 to 9) Based on "In Love With A Lincoln," an online column Kalman ("Fireboat," "Next Stop Grand Central") wrote for The New York Times, this introduction to America's 16th president will inspire children to a similar state of reverence. Kalman's text is marvelously tuned to young readers. "One day he was kicked in the head by a mule," she writes. "Then he woke up and grew up and decided to be a lawyer. (He did like to argue.)" The accompanying paintings alternate between veneration (flags, uniforms, moving portraiture) and whimsy (Lincoln's favorite vanilla cake), enriching this utterly winning tribute. THE CAMPING TRIP THAT CHANGED AMERICA Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks. By Barb Rosenstock. Illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. 32 pp. Dial. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 6 to 8) Once upon a time, a Republican president and a California tree-hugger were united in grand purpose. So goes the story of Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir's 1903 camping trip, told here with towering sequoias, pre-global-warming glaciers and snowstorm. Gerstein, who won a Caldecott for "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers," knows how to bring a great man's feat to picture-book life, and here he captures the men's vision of natural conservation against the glorious backdrop of what would become part of Yosemite National Park. WORST OF FRIENDS Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the True Story of an American Feud. By Suzanne Tripp Jurmain. Illustrated by Larry Day. 32 pp. Dutton. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 6 to 9) Presidential foibles and feuds are a reliable source of astonished delight for children otherwise taught to revere their founding fathers. Teddy Roosevelt said, for example, that President McKinley "had the backbone of a chocolate éclair." And frenemies Thomas Jefferson and John Adams - "as different as pickles and ice cream" (unless you're pregnant) - make an especially colorful pair. Jurmain and Day offer an early-elementary-school account of the Republican/Federalist divide and a story of friendship surmounting ideological differences. THOSE REBELS, JOHN & TOM By Barbara Kerley. Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. 48 pp. Scholastic. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 7 to 11) Two picture books this season about those amicable opposites, Jefferson and Adams? Could it be nostalgia for the days when political foes would still break bread? Here, for older readers but with a similar blend of caricature and portraiture, historical substance and comieal aside, is the story of how the two men "formed a surprising alliance, committed treason and helped launch a new nation." Fotheringham's cartoonish drawings hold a retro "Schoolhouse Rock" appeal in this rousing account of the friendship before the feud. PAMELA PAUL ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
