Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale (Introducing His Forgotten Frontier Friend)

Hopkinson, Deborah

ISBN 10: 0375937684 ISBN 13: 9780375937682

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade, 2008

Synopsis

This ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book and Booklist Editors' Choice is an ingenious historical fiction picture book about the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It’s a tale of two boys who get themselves into more trouble than bear cubs in a candy store.

The year is 1816. Abe is only seven years old, and his pal, Austin, is ten. Abe and Austin decide to journey down to Knob Creek. The water looks scary and deep, and Austin points out that they don’t know how to swim. Nevertheless, they decide to traverse it. I won’t tell you what happens, but let’s just say that our country wouldn’t be the same if Austin hadn’t been there to help his friend.
From the Hardcover edition.

About this title

About the Author:

Deborah Hopkinson is the author of Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book and A Boy Called Dickens. She lives in West Linn, Oregon.

John Hendrix is the illustrator of A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson and the chapter book How to Save Your Tail by Mary Hanson. He teaches illustration at Washington University in St. Louis, where he lives with his wife, Andrea, and son, Jackson.
From the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal:

Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 3—Hopkinson has created a lively, participatory tale that will surely stand out among the many titles published to honor the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. With a conspiratorial wink at the audience, an omniscient narrator invites readers to watch seven-year-old Abe and his real-life friend Austin Gollaher succumb to the "dare you" lure of a roaring creek and a perilous crossing on a fallen log (an author's note details the genesis of the story). Imagine where we as a nation might be if unsung-hero Austin hadn't been there to rescue impetuous Abraham from his tumble into those tumultuous waters. In dialogic asides and exclamations, the author addresses the illustrator and brings him (or, rather, his pencil-wielding hand) onstage to collaborate and correct, and also speaks to readers, inviting involvement and evoking response. Hendrix's illustrations have a naive and rustic flavor that's in perfect harmony with the gravelly, homespun narrator's voice (keen-eyed readers will find a rendering of the storyteller in the endpaper art). Energetic spreads give a big, broad, horizontal view of the green Kentucky valley setting with its rambling curves, rolling mountains, and rushing waters, and a very effective impression of how long that creek-crossing must have seemed...maybe. "For that's the thing about history," Hopkinson says, "if you weren't there, you can't know for sure." What you can know for sure is that this is a book you should add to your shelves.—Kathy Krasniewicz, Perrot Library, Old Greenwich, CT
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About this edition

• Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0375937684
• ISBN 13: 9780375937682
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Hendrix John