Kay Winters Shows That Literacy Is Power in Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books

When I was growing up, I was always reading. I learned how to do it when I was four, and from then on, I carried a book with me wherever I went. This love of literacy is something I have in common with my favorite President, Abraham Lincoln. In Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books, Kay Winters explores his lifelong passion for reading, while Nancy Carpenter's oil paintings show how that drive helped him at various stages of his life.

The bulk of the book's focus is on Lincoln's childhood; the first 30 pages take him up to the age of 19, while the next eight carry him through to the Presidency. The back contains a biographical note of several paragraphs touching on the Civil War and Lincoln's death, but the main portion leaves readers with a picture of the President reading a book at his desk by a roaring fireplace and the concluding sentence, "He learned the power of words and used them well." Thus, the book isn't about Lincoln's accomplishments as President, it's about the way his literacy put him on a path to attain the Presidency as he discovered "words could change the way folks thought."

Winters' words are presented in non-rhyming poetic stanzas. There is beauty in the way she chooses to phrase her thoughts. Throughout the book, she includes various intriguing asides - that he lived in little more than a lean-to for a time when he was seven; that he whittled pegs for his mother's coffin; that he once walked miles to return six cents after accidentally overcharging a customer at his general store. But reading or writing come into play on almost every page, as Carpenter sometimes amusingly illustrates, particularly in a two-page spread showing the teenage Lincoln reading while doing a variety of chores.

While there are many aspects of Lincoln's life that The Boy Who Loved Books doesn't mention - even Mary Todd and their sons only pop up in the biographical note - the narrow focus is a nice angle to take and one to which children can relate well. I think perhaps Winters could have spent a bit more time on Lincoln's adult life, particularly since the four pages dealing with his stint at the general store don't fit very firmly with the theme. On the whole, however, it's a very effective tale, lovingly written and designed to help children appreciate not only Lincoln but the value of books, words and letters.

I'd recommend it mostly for children in the 8 to 12 range, though older Lincoln enthusiasts will find value in it, and it might make a good read-aloud for slightly younger children. It deals with dark subjects like the death of Lincoln's mother and his observation of a slave auction without being too grim, and its warm illustrations are a perfect complement to Winter's writing, which aptly demonstrates the power of words.