The collaborative and evolution of Lincoln shot: A President’s life Remembered

Feiwel, J. (2010). The collaborative and evolution of Lincoln shot: A President’s Life Remembered. Journal of Children’s Literature, 36(1), 72-76.

This article interested me because I recently ordered the book, Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered for the small resource center of the literacy center I direct. I hand-pick each book that goes in there, so I wanted to know more about the creation of a book that I thought was outstanding.

In spite of its large size, which makes shelving inconvenient, (and I’ve already had a comment from one librarian about that), this book is very often pulled from the shelves and looked at by resource area patrons. It is just magnetic. People see it sticking out, notice the innovative format, and say, “Hmm, what’s this?” Then they open it, and the beginning pages on the assassination hook them. (This apparently was a last minute decision, to put the account of the assassination first –a good choice.) Then, the sender gets into who Lincoln was, and is drawn deeper into this man’s unusual life. Lincoln was a human being, not a saint, with flaws. Still, there was something special about him, something charismatic that inspired and inspires strong feelings. A special book was needed to capture that.