The Superlative A. Lincoln: Poems About Our 16th President [Hardcover]

Tallest, wisest, most studious--Lincoln was simply superlative!

Get to know the personal side of Honest Abe (his LEAST FAVORITE nickname) through fresh and funny poems expressing his superlative nature.

Abraham Lincoln is famous for many extremes: he was the TALLEST president, who gave the GREATEST SPEECH and had the STRONGEST conviction. But did you know that he was also the MOST DISTRACTED farmer, the BEST wrestler, and the CRAFTIEST storyteller? Nineteen poems share fascinating stories about events in Lincoln's life, while history notes go even deeper into how he excelled. Don't forget to think of all the ways you, too, are superlative!Telling Abraham Lincoln's story in poetry is a tall order, but Meyer pulls it off. Come read about a legend— / the greatest of the greats; / from a poor boy in the backwoods / to a president, first-rate. The title of each celebratory poem offers a yearbook-style superlative about our 16th president: Best Wrestler, Best Lumberjack, Who's Tallest? Each poem is accompanied by a brief paragraph providing context for the poem. The rhyming poems are mostly in third person, though one is in the voice of Lincoln's stovepipe hat, and there's another from Grace Bedell, who wrote to the president encouraging him to grow a beard. The upbeat poems and string of superlatives, however, leave little room for more nuanced explanations, as in Strongest Conviction: Signing the Emancipation, from which readers learn that Lincoln freed the slaves but not that they weren't really free yet nor that his commitment to abolition was limited. The portrait orientation of the volume is the right choice for our tall president, and Szalay's attractive, folksy art manages to capture the homespun spirit of the poems. Brown faces appear in the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial, and President Barack Obama and Frederick Douglass make appearances. The collection will make excellent reading aloudlÓé