Looking at Lincoln

Kalman, Maira. Looking at Lincoln. Illustrated by Maira Kalman. Nancy Paulsen Books, 2012. 32 pages. $17.99. ISBN 9780399240393.

Summary:

Kalman’s picture book biography of Abraham Lincoln is an informative and appealing exploration of Lincoln’s life. The narrator of this story is a girl who wants to learn more about Lincoln and is interspersed with factual information. The text has excellent details about Lincoln that children would really want to know about, such as his favorite apples, dog, and early life. The narrator’s voice is direct, as though she were sharing this information with a peer. Kalman’s expressive paintings show a variety of emotions and moods to complement the moments in Lincoln’s life.

Curriculum Connections:

This text would be perfect for a 1^st-3^rd grade biography unit that could include a mix of picture book biographies, as well as more traditional nonfiction biographies. It would fit well in a presidential biography unit as a way to compare the information from two or more sources on one topic. This could be as an example text to use while teaching “voice” in writing.

Personal Reflections:

I enjoyed the way the information was conveyed in this book: at times, it was clearly in the “voice” of a child (“But maybe he forgot to eat his slice. He was often too busy thinking to eat.”) and at other times the information was delivered in a factual tone, without interpretation.

Awards:

Age/Interest Range:

5-10

Genre/Themes:

Nonfiction, Biography, Picture Book

Read-Alikes:

Other picture book biographies of influential political figures are: Martin’s Big Words (Rappaport), Big George: How a Shy Boy Became President Washington (Rockwell), Wangari’s Trees of Peace (Winter).