I’ve been writing books about Abraham Lincoln for 15 years. I also have two daughters, and I spend a lot of time at night telling bedtime stories. A couple of years ago, I decided to combine these two areas of my life by writing a Lincoln book for kids. But I didn’t want it to be another run-of-the-mill history book. So, I developed a story about a girl who travels back in time and meets a young Abe. Along the way, she learns a lot about his life. I like to tell people that everything about it is historically accurate . . . except the time travel!
This is my favorite full-color illustrated kids’ book about Abraham Lincoln, and I have read dozens of them. It tells a true story about Abe during the War of 1812 when he was probably only about 5 or 6 years old.
One day, he caught a fish and gave it to a hungry soldier who was walking home on the road because, he later said, he had always been taught to be good to soldiers.
The story points forward to some major themes in Lincoln’s adult life, and the illustrations are absolutely wonderful.
Here is the perfect book for celebrating Lincoln’s 200th birthdayand a unique way to illuminate our 16th president for today’s young readers. Based on an actual incident that occurred when Lincoln was just a boy, it shows that he, like so many children, wished he were taller (and it came true!); that he had a mischievous streak; that he loved words; andmost importantthat even as a small child he puzzled deeply over the concept of freedom. Amy June Bates’s superb illustrations capture young Abe’s personality, the warmth of his home life, and the enduring power of his one-time chance meeting…
Ever since I was a teenager, I have been interested in the story of Sallie, a bullterrier who became the mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry. (I have an ancestor who fought with the 11th Pennsylvania, which is how I first became aware of Sallie’s story.)
The illustrations in this book are delightful as the author tells the story of when Sallie first joined the 11th until she was killed in battle in Virginia several years later. Today, she is memorialized at Gettysburg National Military Park. Visitors often leave dog biscuits at her statue.
This is the untold story of Sallie, a dog whose life as a soldier began in a basket and ended as a Civil War hero.
The pup barked and nearly tumbled out of the basket. We laughed, and immediately we knew--she was one of us already.
Brindle fur with streaks of brown and black swirled all over her like a patchwork quilt. She was as pretty as an apple tree in full bloom. We called her Sallie.
During the Civil War, Sallie came to the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry as a gift from a townsperson, but she quickly became a…
Most people don’t realize that Lincoln lived most of his adult life without a beard and that he grew his beard during the presidential campaign in 1860 after an 11-year-old girl wrote to him and suggested that he grow whiskers.
This book tells the story of how Grace Bedell encouraged him to grow a beard, how her brother teased her for writing to him, and how Lincoln stopped at her hometown in 1861 to meet her and show her his new whiskers.
This is a great story for kids to see how a young girl helped shape the image of Lincoln, an image that is recognizable to all Americans today.
Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the United States to wear a beard. What gave him the idea to grow whiskers may have been a letter he received from an eleven-year-old girl named Grace Bedell. Charmingly told by Karen B. Winnick and illustrated with rich oil paintings that capture the look and feel of nineteenth-century America, here is the true story of the girl whose letter helped to make Abraham Lincoln's face one of the most famous in American history.
Most people don’t know that at one time, slavery existed in every state, not just in the South. This powerful book tells the story of Sojourner Truth’s time in slavery in New York, from her birth in 1797 until she escaped as a young woman in the 1820s.
Unfortunately, Truth continued to face hardships in freedom, most terribly when her son was sold away from her to Alabama. Fortunately, she fought in court and won so that he was returned.
Truth continued to fight for women’s rights and black civil rights for the rest of her life. In 1864, she even met with Lincoln at the White House.
Sojourner Truth was born into slavery but possessed a mind and a vision that knew no bounds. So Tall Within traces her life from her painful childhood through her remarkable emancipation to her incredible leadership in the movement for rights for both women and African Americans. Her story is told with lyricism and pathos by Gary D. Schmidt, one of the most celebrated writers for children in the twenty-first century, and brought to life by award winning and fine artist Daniel Minter. This combination of talent is just right for introducing this legendary figure to a new generation of children.
In this fictional story about the Battle of Gettysburg, two 11-year-old buglers (one from the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry and the other from 11th Mississippi) meet in the woods and share some moments in conversation away from the din of the fighting.
The story helps young readers reflect on the common humanity and suffering of the soldiers on both sides during the Civil War. In elegant prose and beautiful pictures it humanizes the experiences, fears, and uncertainties faced by these men and boys (and their families).
My book brings the story of Abraham Lincoln’s remarkable rise to greatness to life for children. Through the delightful story of a third grader who travels back in time to Indiana in the 1820s, young readers will gain a new understanding of the obstacles that Lincoln overcame to become a great leader: growing up in poverty, being teased by other kids, losing a parent, and his lifelong difficulty with spelling.
This book is rooted in years of historical research, but the story unfolds in a fun and accessible way that children will find impossible to put down.
