Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Lincoln Chopped a Cherry Tree, Not a Magic Tree


Abe Lincoln at Last
Written by Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrated by Sal Murdocca
Random House, 2011
120 pages
Historical Fiction

            My son LOVES The Magic Tree House books.  He has read all of them; so with me being a history nerd, I thought “why not?”  So, I sat down and read this book.  I really enjoyed it.  The adventure is good and wanting to meet President Lincoln has always been a secret dream of mine.  The story is about Jack and Annie trying to help Merlin save his baby penguin.  They must find a magical feather to help him.  The tree house takes them back to 1861 during one of the most unsettled times of American history.  Jack wants to meet President Lincoln, but the president does not have time to meet with them.  Since I avoid spoilers, you’ll have to read the rest.

            The illustrations in the book are pen and are black and white.  The illustrations are done in the most formal way with the exceptions of a few vignettes throughout the text.  Although this book does not have as many pictures as most do, this is still considered a picture book.

            This book would be good for kindergarten through sixth grade.  For lower grades, it would need to be read aloud to the class.  This book would be good for a history lesson on the presidents, our nation and war.  It would also be good for a language arts lesson for the students to read the book and write journal entries on what they would do if they were in the same situation.  It would also be good for a social studies lesson on how cultures have changed over the past 100 hundred years.  At this time this book has won no awards but it is on the “best books” of 2011 list.


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