Monday, July 4, 2011

Lincoln Tells A Joke by Kathleen Krull

Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country)
Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer

Krull, Kathleen, & Brewer, P. 2010. Illustrator: Stacy Innerst. Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. ISBN: 9780152066390.

This biographical survey picture book tells the story of Abe Lincoln from a very unique perspective, laughter. Krull tells the story of Lincoln’s entire life through one little known fact about him, his love of jokes and humor. Born in in 1809, Lincoln started telling jokes and humorous anecdotes at an early age. His subject was often himself, as he got older he used jokes as a way to identify with people and when running for office. When elected President 1860 he would keep joke books in his desk drawer at the White House. His death by murder in 1865 cut his life short, but the little known fact that his life was filled with laughter makes a good ending to this biographical sketch.

Kathleen Krull is a well-known author of children’s non-fiction books. She has written many biographies of famous people for children. She made sure to include in the back of this book a note about accuracy and sources she used when researching the subject matter of the book. By acknowledging that some of the anecdotes and jokes she uses are from eyewitnesses and people several times removed it lends credence to her story as she is not trying to misrepresent facts. The sources she cites are wide and cover many areas of Lincoln’s life. The illustrations are caricatures of the real people which lends a storybook quality to the picture book.

Lincoln Tells a Joke is organized chronologically, hitting all of the big points of Lincoln’s life: birth, army, marriage to Mary Todd, elected president, and death. There is a very clear sequence and the author keeps the story moving along on each page with another part of his life. The design of the book is heavily influenced by the organization.

Designed like a story book but filled with information, the text is one of the most visible markers of the book. Everything that Lincoln is supposed to have said or written is in quotes and typed in cursive. The graphics of the book are clear and tell the story that the words have written. They communicate to the reader what the biographical story is meant to convey.

The style of this biography is meant to tell a story about a person that most people think they know about. By telling a story using a personality trait is opens up a new perspective to what people think about one of our earliest presidents. Krull uses appropriate language for the age group and encourages those reading to look at someone from a different perspective then they are used to. By hitting the big points of Lincoln’s life, as mentioned earlier, Krull does not throw too much information at the reader, instead focusing on how humor made the most the bigger situations in his life.

From School Library Journal
“Krull is an expert at teasing out the fun, quirky sides of her subjects and sharing them in a way that is both genuine and engaging. This take on Lincoln is no exception. He is portrayed as an accessible, endearing, and sympathetic figure, not just another president. Children will be drawn in by the straightforward prose, and librarians will enjoy sharing the book aloud.”
Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA

From Booklist
“Laughter is not only good medicine. It can also be a political tool, human motivator, and saving grace, as the authors show in this upbeat overview of Lincoln’s life. Moving through the sixteenth president’s many challenges, from family deaths to lost elections to fighting slavery, the text emphasizes how Lincoln coped with a joke on his tongue and a smile on his lips.” --Andrew Medlar

Lincoln Tells a Joke has also won several awards: a School Library Journal Starred review and nomination for a Cybil’s award 2010.

Jokes are a great way to integrate this story into a classroom or storytime. Starting off with jokes about Lincoln or sharing some his jokes are a good way to get this story started. After reading the book it might be good to have children come up with jokes of their own to share.

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