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Lincoln and His Boys

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Lincoln and His Boys

Paperback(Reprint)

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Paperback(Reprint)
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Overview

“Rarely does a biography so robustly engage the audience's emotions.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Historians claim him as one of America’s most revered presidents. But to his rambunctious sons, Abraham Lincoln was above all a playful and loving father. Here is Lincoln as seen by two of his boys. With the war raging and the Union under siege, we see history unfolding through Willie’s eyes and then through Tad’s—and we see Lincoln rising above his own inborn sadness and personal tragedy through his devotion to his sons. With evocative and engaging illustrations by P.J. Lynch, Rosemary Wells's carefully researched biography gives us a Lincoln not frozen in time but accessible and utterly real.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763680695
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	12/22/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	730L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Rosemary Wells is an author and illustrator of picture books and has written many novels and nonfiction books for young readers, including Mary on Horseback, a biography of Mary Breckenridge that won the Christopher Medal. While researching a historical novel about the Civil War, she came upon a 200-word fragment by Willie Lincoln about a trip taken with his father, and the idea for Father Abraham was born. She lives in Connecticut.

PJ Lynch is an Irish artist who has illustrated several books with American themes, including The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey and When Jessie Came Across the Sea. To illustrate Lincoln and His Boys, he traveled with Rosemary Wells to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois, and assembled hundreds of contemporary photographs, daguerreotypes, and etchings of Lincoln. He lives in Dublin.

Read an Excerpt

Every evening my brother Tad and I run over to Father's office on the corner of Adams Street. We huck handfuls of pebbles up at the windowpanes so Father knows we are coming. Tad is smaller than I am, but he can throw the pebbles harder and make more noise.
(Continues…)

Excerpted from "Lincoln and His Boys"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Rosemary Wells.
Excerpted by permission of Candlewick Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

Inspired by a 200-word fragment written by one of Lincoln's sons, Wells (Mary on Horseback) introduces the legendary president through the perspectives of his youngest children, Willie and Tad. Nine years old when the book opens, in Springfield, Ill., Willie accompanies his father to Chicago, where, as Willie puts it, "spiffed-up men with soft hands" decide that Lincoln should run for president: "It's a derby race, and I've got a plow horse's chance," Lincoln tells his son. The family vernacular will win readers quickly, as will Lincoln's readiness to indulge his boys and let them see him at work. Darkness enters gradually: on the train to Washington, Pinkerton agents whisk Lincoln off, in disguise ("a lot of shicoonery," he tells the boys), to foil an assassination plot; the outbreak of war grieves Lincoln; and then the death of Willie in 1862 devastates Mary Lincoln. Wells ends as Lincoln and Tad return from a trip to Richmond, Va., at the close of the Civil War, and Lincoln orders the Union band to play "Dixie." Rarely does a biography so robustly engage the audience's emotions. Final art, in color, not seen by PW. Ages 8-12. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 3-6
Inspired by a 200-word essay by Willie Lincoln, Wells offers a fictional account of Lincoln and his boys. Written first from Willie's point of view, then Tad's after Willie dies, it's a touching account of Lincoln as a patient and loving father, ready with a story, and in possession of infinite tolerance where his sons are concerned. Conversations between him and his boys shed light on what's happening at the time and on Lincoln's straightforward manner. "There are a hundred reasons why things happen, Willie. Those reasons fan out like circles around a stone thrown into a pond. The stone in the center of those reason rings is called truth. Truth is the very hardest thing on earth to see clear." Occasional colloquialisms like "four-flusher," "shicoonery," and "haberdasher" might challenge young readers, but in context the ideas are clear. Lynch captures the people and the warmth of their interactions in carefully researched oil paintings that reflect his mastery with light, perspective, and portraiture. The story closes with Lincoln's last speech, Tad at his side, while he instructs the band to play "Dixie." Presenting the president from his children's viewpoint brings both the family and the times to life.-Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library

School Library Journal

A series of three chapter-long snapshots gives readers glimpses of Lincoln the man as seen through the eyes of his two younger sons, Willie and Tad. In the first chapter, Willie goes to Chicago with his father, who is preparing for his presidential bid. Chapter two recounts the Lincolns' arrival in Washington and the beginning of the Civil War. Tad finishes the tale by himself, covering the period between his brother's death and the end of the war, stopping short before his father's assassination. Shot through this brief narrative are the boys' mother's moodiness and their father's vaunted humor and loving warmth toward his children. The boys' perspective allows Wells to elevate her subject to heroic proportions and to give readers intimate access to his humanity at the same time, an effect reinforced by Lynch's unself-consciously sentimental paintings. Where the narrative falls short is in the characterization of the two narrators, who never quite achieve three dimensions. In a year crammed with Lincoln-themed offerings, this one stands as a solid but not necessary purchase. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

Introduces the legendary president through the perspectives of his youngest children, Willie and Tad…Rarely does a biography so robustly engage the audience's emotions.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Captures moments in time, from a child's perspective, in a very momentous life.
—Books4YourKids

Featured/recommended
—Baldwincountynow.com

Featured/recommended
—Bookmark (The First Book blog)

Featured/recommended
—Tina Says

This is the story of real people, real children, a real family, as told from the perspective of Lincoln's sons Tad and Willie.
—PlanetEsme

From the Publisher