Abraham Lincoln: Letters from a Slave Girl (Dear Mr. President) [Hardcover]

Andrea Davis Pinkney (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Series: Dear Mr. President

The Dear Mr. President series brings history alive through fictitious correspondence between a president and a young person. Although the letters are all imagined, they are based upon meticulous historical research. Elegantly designed in two colors, the books include photographs, maps, primary source material, a presidential biography, U.S. postal history, an index, and timelines. In this latest addition to the series, the United States descends into Civil War, a 12-year-old slave on a South Carolina plantation begins corresponding with the newly inaugurated President Lincoln. Full emancipation, the president writes to her, cannot come easily in so deeply divided a nation. But her continuing appeals prod the conscience of this burdened man, and he drafts the Emancipation Proclamation that sets Lettie on the road to freedom.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-7-This series title presents fictionalized letters between a 12-year-old slave girl living on a South Carolina plantation and President Lincoln, from 1861 to 1863. Lettie Tucker has been secretly taught to read and write by the plantation owner's daughter, who encouraged her to begin the correspondence. She describes her life and her family's circumstances and challenges the president on his position toward slavery, urging him to free the slaves. Lincoln describes his life with the First Lady and two of their sons in the White House, the progress of the war, and his evolving position regarding slavery, culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation. The book includes photos, paintings, engravings, prints, reproductions, and a description of the U.S. postal service. This title raises interesting issues about slavery that are relevant to present-day discussions on race relations. It will be useful for supplementary reading for school curricula.

Marilyn Ackerman, Brooklyn Public Library, NY

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. In the third volume in the Dear Mr. President series, Pinkney creates a lively, two-year correspondence between Abraham Lincoln and Lettie Tucker, a 12-year-old slave living on a plantation in South Carolina. Lettie respectfully challenges Lincoln, and as she writes about her life and family, the consequences should he fail to end slavery are dramatically revealed. Lincoln's genial, concerned responses depict both his determination to preserve the Union and his conflicted, gradually changing views about abolition. Lettie emerges as engaging, determined, and empathic, whether chiding or comforting Lincoln, grieving when her father is sold, or rejoicing because of the Emancipation Proclamation and her family's new life in Philadelphia. The letters are beautifully written and accompanied by numerous photographs, but the book seems cluttered. And with a publisher's note, an introduction, two pages of ads for the series, three bibliographies, interactive footnotes, an index, and notes linking the text to the publisher's Web site, it seems more like nonfiction than fiction. Still, the price is right, the premise is interesting, the research connections useful, and the letters thought provoking. Chris Sherman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 136 pages
• Publisher: Winslow Pr (May 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890817600
• ISBN-13: 978-1890817602
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #911,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story of a slave girl as seen through her letters., May 26, 2001

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Abraham Lincoln: Letters from a Slave Girl (Dear Mr. President) (Hardcover)

Twelve-year-old Lettie is a slave girl living on the Tucker Plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, in 1861. It is only because of the friendship of her owner's young daughter, Katherine, that Lettie and her family have not been separated Even though Katherine taught her to read and has ensured that her father is not cruel, Lettie still longs to be free. With more questions than answers caused by the outbreak of war, she takes a daring step and writes to President Abraham Lincoln with the question she must know the answer to - when will she finally be free? This was a moving story about the cruelty of slavery as seen through the story of a spirited young girl longing to be free. Even though the letters were fictional, they seemed so real.