Mr. Lincoln's Boys

Sub-Title: Being the MOSTLY True Adventures of Abraham Lincoln's Trouble-Making Sons, TAD and WILLIE
Author: Staton Rabin
Illustrator: Bagram Ibatoulline
Year: 2008
Publisher: Viking Press
Pages: 36
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Genre: Picture Book/Historical Fiction
Location: White House, Washington, D.C.
Time Period: Civil War (1860's)

Plot: Tad and Willie live with their parents, Martha and Abraham Lincoln, in the White House in Washington, D.C. Even though their father is a very busy man, the President of the United States always makes time for his sons. The boys are also mischievous, and they often get into trouble. They have a toy soldier that they frequently charge for some violation or another, then they come up with a different way to execute and bury the doll. SPOILER! During one of these execution plays, The gardener finds Tad and Willie digging in the flower bed to bury the toy soldier. Furious, the gardener chases Tad and Willie away. Unable to carry out the execution, Tad and Willie must figure out what to do with their doomed doll. They take the problem to their father, who is the middle of a meeting, and ask for a pardon. The President awards the doll a pardon, and it is shown that the President's stressful life is made easier by watching his son's antics.

Comments: When you're writing about events that really happened in world history, it's easy to stick to facts and take all of the emotion and story out of it. Staton Rabin does an excellent job focusing on that emotion and story, and successfully creates a tale not just about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, but about fathers and sons and the importance of making time for family. Rabin is open about the fact that he changed the way things happened in order to help children relate with the story, and it's possible that he helped them understand a little more about the Civil War because of it. Despite all of this, I appreciated the notes found in the back of the book explaining exactly what the author changed, and why. With this, an explanation about who the characters in the story are, and a list of further reading, this book makes a good way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

Of course I have to mention the artwork of Bagram Ibatoulline, who illustrated one of my favorite children's books of all time, found here. Ibatoulline succeeds again in capturing the mood just right. The pictures are warm and golden and very lifelike, and I laughed at the realistic look on the boys' face as they solemnly walked into the President's Office to ask for a pardon. Both the pictures and the prose work well together in telling the story of an amusing thing that happened during a very somber period of American history.

Themes: Civil War, Soldiers, Abraham Lincoln, Importance of Family, Fathers and Sons

Red Flags: Willie and Tad imagine different ways to execute their toy soldier.