Children's Books

[Gene C]

Abe Lincoln - Log Cabin To White House by Sterling North

This is #61 of the Landmark Book series of books (like the Lincoln and Douglas book previously mentioned). Sterling North wrote several books for children. North's best-selling and best-known work is, Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era. It is a remembrance of a year in his childhood when he raised a baby raccoon, which he named "Rascal". It received a Newberry Honor in 1964,

This biography of Lincoln was written in 1956, has 160 pages,
and written for an age group of 8 and older.

It's a pretty good book with several illustrations by Lee Ames
My biggest disappointment with the book is it's description of Thomas Lincoln, which seems to have it's negative influence from William Herndon. This is not unusual for many of the Lincoln childrens books written during this time period.

I like the way he describes New Salem , "One might almost believe that the village of New Salem was created by magic for the single purpose of helping Abraham Lincoln to evolve into the man he later became. Founded only two years before Lincoln's arrival this little town virtually disappeared from the map two years after Abe's departure. It was though at the wave of some sorcerer's wand, log cabins had appeared on the bluff above the Sangamon. As though at another wave of the wand a cast of characters were summoned out of thin air.

But while they live in their New Salem cabins, these "characters" in the Lincoln drama were very real indeed, and often played an important role in Abe's development."

North says this about the soldiers,
"These volunteers of the two sections differed little in idealism and courage; average weight and height; color of hair, skin, eyes; love of family and country. They left behind them weeping mothers and proud fathers, girls with whom they were in love. With an ardor which might better have been spent on binding North and South together, these bearded young men and beardless striplings threw themselves at each other with fratricidal fury. At times they even cheered the bravery of those who came on against them."

And his closing remarks
"As Lincoln had said when leaving Springfield, he did not know "when, or whether ever," he might return. But now in a train draped with mourning, through cities, towns and villages where weeping thousands stood through the April days and nights to pay their last tribute, Abe Lincoln of Illinois was returning to his home, there to sleep peacefully until Judgment Day."

The book is available through Abe Books and Amazon
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchR...ng%20North
I purchased a nice used copy from Books On The Square for $3