Norine Odland (The Five Owls, March/April 1988 (Vol. 2, No. 4))
The 1987 Newbery Award for "the most distinguished writing for children" has been given to Russell Freedman for Lincoln: A Photobiography. The text is the major focus of the work and the photos expand the information. After the first chapter, which gives an overview of Lincoln's life and the author's philosophy about the man, the organization of the text is mainly chronological. Credibility is assured, with frequent quotations from newspapers, speeches, and other sources. The reader is ready to discover how much myth and legend about Lincoln has any basis in fact. The meager surroundings into which Lincoln was born are described more in terms of the times than of any specific reference to recorded facts. Moves to Indiana and Illinois are depicted with some detail. The death of Lincoln's mother is related with reverence along with an acceptance of the kind of tragedies that occurred in the days before medical advances. There is also great respect for his father's second wife, Sarah Johnston Lincoln, who with her children did much to make the Lincoln family close-knit. Sarah also encouraged Lincoln's schooling. The New Salem years are related in greater detail, for those were the years when Lincoln had the time and opportunity to read and discuss the major issues of the day. It was from those discussions that Lincoln decided to try for an elected office. After his election to the state legislature, he began to study law. His financial resources were scant, but he was not much different from many people of that time. His law practice in Illinois flourished, and it was through his work at the capitol that he met Mary Todd, whom he eventually married. The text gives more attention to the years before and during the Civil War. There seems to be a foreshadowing of the assassination, and the book concludes with the funeral train trip to Springfield and Lincoln's final resting place. Along with the facts about Lincoln, the book earns its merit with impressions and interpretations of those facts that help to make Lincoln a real person. Lincoln never liked to be called Abe and objected to it fiercely. As a youth, he was poor, but by the time he was President he was a wealthy man. When he went to the Illinois State Legislature he was wearing a tailor-made suit for which he paid sixty-five dollars, albeit his purchase was on credit. The dispositions of Mary and Abraham are depicted as intense and difficult to understand, his as much so as hers. To Abraham Lincoln slavery was a major issue. He detested slavery, but he believed until well into the Civil War that if slavery was not allowed in any new states it would eventually die out; Lincoln wanted to save the Union. The horrible death and destruction of the war weighed on his conscience. It was a great feeling of relief after Lee's surrender that influenced the Lincolns to join the crowd at Ford's Theater on April 14. The subtitle of the book may mislead readers who expect this to be a picture book. The pictures are wisely chosen and do add to the facts and feelings, but they do not tell the story. The writing is distinguished. Young readers have had few, if any, books available that treat Lincoln so honestly and so well. Teachers and parents of children up to age eight or nine could well use this as a basic source of learning about Lincoln. After age nine, children can read it for themselves. 1987, Clarion, $15.95. Ages 9 to 16.