Little Abe Lincoln

[Gene C]

Written by Bernie Babcock in 1926, with 272 pages. This is a historical fiction book, with a lot of story telling wrapped around facts. Tells the story of his years in Kentucky and Indiana. Has 6 pages of endnotes, which give background and source info for the facts around the story.

Mrs. Babcock did a lot of research for her books, going to the Library of Congress and traveling to places Lincoln lived to get the facts about his early life. Mrs. Babcock acknowledges that she may take events out of sequence or change the age of the characters in her book for story telling purposes. It's not a dry book, she is a talented story teller.

About three chapters deal with the loss of his mother. Since Mrs Babcock's husband died in 1898 and she was left with five children all under the age of ten, this portion of Abe's story has a lot of feeling and emotion. Several times through the book conversations of characters deal with faith and belief in God

Several chapters involve Abe's younger step-sister Matilda, called "Tildy". She is portrayed as a spoiled and sassy pre-schooler,
and provides some of the humor in the book as well as an opportunity to show a young Abraham Lincoln's kind and considerate personality. Lincoln is portrayed as an older brother, but in reality they were about the same age.

You can find the book on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Abe-Lincoln...be+Lincoln
I bought my copy (very good condition) last year for $4.99

[RJNorton]

When I think of Matilda I think of this story. Versions vary somewhat from book to book, but here's one of them:

On a day in c.1820 Abraham's stepsister, Matilda Johnston, playfully tried to knee young Abe in the back just as he was swinging an ax to cut down a tree. The joke backfired on Matilda as the ax cut a deep gash in her ankle. Young Abe quickly cut his shirt into strips and tied them tight around Matilda's bleeding ankle. She was scared and crying. Abe did not question or scold her; rather he realized it had been a childish prank. He picked up the young girl and carried her on his shoulder all the way from the woods to the Lincolns' cabin. When they got home Abe "protected" Matilda by telling his stepmother that he had accidentally hit Matilda with the ax, and he never told his stepmother that the whole episode was actually due to Matilda's prank.