Lincoln: A Photobiography
Author: Russell Freedman
Publisher: Clarion Books
Copyright: 1987
Pages: 144
Reading Level: Ages 8-12
Genre: Photobiography
Rating: ***

Summary:
This book is exactly what it sounds like a biography of President Lincoln, but with pictures. The unique thing about this book is the pictures because not only do they go along with the text, but they are actual pictures from that time. It talks all about Lincoln’s life from a-z. It starts out with a general overview, and then lets us see into his whole life. His life as a poor farm boy, his desire to be a lawyer and reading law books and taking the bar and passing, his marriage to his wife, and his wife’s families distaste and disapproval of Lincoln for marriage. Naturally it also talks of his running for President, the war, the emancipation act, and finally his assassination. All throughout the book there are numerous pictures about Lincoln. Each tells us more about him, and lets us see what it was like back then. There are several pictures of the war, and even his funeral procession. A great book about one of our Presidents, that is more geared toward a lower reading level, and less stuffy and intimidating than a textbook.

Who would benefit from reading this?
Kids who like non-fiction books, as well as those in a history class or doing a project on President Lincoln would benefit from this book. This book is not only for kids though, it would be beneficial to anyone that wanted to learn more about Lincoln, in a factual, non biased but less text book style of writing, and better yet with pictures.

Potential problems/conflicts:
There is a lot of text, and not as many pictures. So a lot of kids will probably get bored, this is not a book you would read straight through. There are also some pretty graphic pictures of the Civil War that you might not want younger children to see.

My reaction:
I learned a lot about President Lincoln that I had never learned because, such as how he didn’t believe in punishment for his kids, and just how rotten they were. I also learned more about the war, without bias and more about the man, behind the title of President. I won’t lie, at times it was hard to stay awake while reading because it is so very much fact based but I loved the pictures! I loved that I saw the picture that Lincoln thinks looks the most like him, what his family looked like, his handwriting and more. By far the picture aspect of the book was my favorite but there is a lot to learn in this book and it would be great to use when teaching children.