From Publishers Weekly
Drawing on a limber imagination and knack for storytelling, Mazer (
Boy at War;
Heroes Don't Run) turns a few facts from Abraham Lincoln's childhood into a vivid historical novel. The title notwithstanding, the future president does not occupy center stage—Abe's older sister, Sally, about whom little is known, serves as the personable narrator and protagonist. Mazer conjures her as tomboyish and outspoken, a bit like Laura Ingalls but saddled with an authoritarian, fault-finding father. The dramas of frontier life quickly prove absorbing: shortly after the book opens, a land dispute forces the Lincolns to leave their Kentucky farm, and they settle in more isolated, primitive quarters in Indiana. Contemporary readers will easily relate to Sally, who can't understand why her patient, religious mother always agrees with "Mr. Lincoln" (as his wife addresses him), and whose grief over her mother's death makes her resent the essentially kind widow her father marries a year later. Fans of historical novels will savor the details evoked here. Ages 8–12.
(Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4–7—Mazer has based this story broadly on known facts of the Lincolns' childhood. Crossing the Ohio River into what would become Indiana after being forced off their land in Kentucky, living in a half-faced shelter over one winter, and losing their mother become immediate and poignant when seen through Sally's eyes. While her brother is quick to accept their new stepmother, Sally is not so easily won over, and her feelings and fear of betraying her mother's memory are understandable. Abraham's difficulties with his father, his reluctance to kill animals, the hard work of homesteading, and his longing for education are depicted. Through such vivid details, Mazer offers an engaging and believable tale of survival.—
Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
