Customer Reviews

Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In this book, the illustrations are so dark that everybody at the Inaugural Ball (and on both sides of the Civil War battle scene!) looks African American. The book opens with a whopping historical error: Mrs. Lincoln in sympathy with slavery. And the real substance of this historic friendship (Douglass arguing rightly that "colonizing" freed blacks to Africa and Central America was a bad idea; Lincoln disagreed, but gradually changed his mind) is not even hinted at. Now that is a complex topic, but a great children's book would grapple with it somehow, and demonstrate for kids how two great minds can have a sharp debate and yet respect each other.
A friendship with no edge is no friendship at all. And a book with no merit should not be published.

Nikki Giovanni actually read portions of this book aloud to me (and others) at an event on April 18th, 20ll at the university I attend. She has a dry, quirky sense of humor that I really enjoyed, so I had to order this book. And I liked it! It was nice to see a new side of these American leaders. My only complaint is that the pages about Harper's Ferry and John Brown (while important) take the focus away from Lincoln's and Douglass' story.

One of my favorite stories in American History is how Frederick Douglass educated himself up from slavery and negotiated with Lincoln on slavery and civil rights. I've done monologues on this for my students in the US and African-American history classes that I teach. So it was good to see that Nikki Giovanni (with the help of artist Bryan Collier) has brought this story to a younger generation.

Just enough detail is given on the backgrounds of both men and the times and events of their lifetimes so that children will understand why it was so outstanding for Lincoln to invite Douglass to his inaugural ball in 1865. This is really interesting for parents to discuss with the kiddies, especially in light of the (at the time of this writing) upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama and the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

Overall, this book is a great example of storytelling as history for younger readers. Parents, if you want a relatively inexpensive but educational and enjoyable gift for your children this Christmas, then this is it! Incidentally, adults can read the full story of this incident and friendship in Douglass' own "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass."

It is a great book for the kids and family too. I am very pleased to add it to our home library.

I have been reading books about Lincoln and his wife for over 30 years, and Mary Lincoln's sympathies did not lie with the South, "Frederick Douglass, she feared , had persuaded her husband to take up the cause fo the enslaved. She did not want her beloved South change." Mrs Lincoln had been against slavery for most of her life.
This is an inaccuracy and/or misrepresentation. I would have believed Ms Giovanni to be a responsible author, but this is just wrong.