Lincoln Walks by Night: The Ghost, The White House, and Me by Judith St. George

Judith St. George, author of the Caldecott Award book So You Want to be President? Revised and Updated Edition puts her knowledge of presidents and the White House to work in this gentle First Family ghost story.

Katharine (a.k.a. KayKay) and younger sister Annie Granger have just moved into the White House. As the daughters of America's first woman president, the sisters find living in the executive mansion a bit off-putting. Their mom is always busy with matters of state, and it's hard to get used to being shadowed by the Secret Service at school and at home. But when their school acquaintance, Borden Williamson, grandson of the previous president, comes along with his grandparents for a formal lunch, he gets KayKay's attention with his story of seeing Abe Lincoln's ghost while he was sleeping over in the Lincoln bedroom.

Kay, a would-be mystery writer, sees the literary possibilities of spending the night there herself, but her mom is too absorbed in a crisis in Chile to set up the event. But when her fun-loving Uncle Matt comes for a visit and is offered the famous bedroom for the night, Kay and Annie can't resist the opportunity to prank their good-natured uncle. Rigging up her iPod to start playing the Gettysburg Address at 2:00 a.m. from a wardrobe inside the Lincoln Bedroom, Kay slips down the hall to knock on the door, the warning Lincoln's ghost is said always to use before his appearances in the room. To her embarrassment, the victim of the prank turns out to be a visiting diplomat from Chile who had put in a special request for the room for his one-night stay at the White House. While their dad and uncle are amused by their inventive practical joke, Madame President Granger is not, and the girls are grounded for two weeks.

The time passes slowly for the two prisoners inside the White House, but at the end of the penalty, their mom relents and agrees to let the two sleep in the reputedly haunted chamber. Even KayKay is a bit intimidated by the dark, massive, old-fashioned furnishings and the room's reputation, but she is comforted by the presence of a talkative Secret Service agent, Robert Todd, stationed outside the door, who reassures her that Lincoln was a loving father who sometimes joined in his own two boys' pranks. When they finally manage to fall asleep, the two are awakened by several firm knocks at the door and the appearance of a tall, thin figure in a dark shawl and high hat who enters with a ghostly beckoning of his spectral hand. Just as Kay feels she is going to faint from shock, the figure gives a familiar wave and backs through the door and into the shadowy hall.

That wave clicks in Kay's mind, and in a shot she's down the hall following the dark figure. "Stop, Abraham Lincoln, stop!" she calls out. Kay is not at all surprised to see that the ghost is her mom, Madame President, in a Lincoln costume, wig, and beard, trying to control her giggles at her daughters' reaction to her joke.

As the First Family shares a very early morning breakfast in the family kitchen, they go over the whole story. There's just one problem. Her mom assures her that she did not assign an agent to guard the door to the Lincoln bedroom, and her dad points out that there is no Secret Service man on staff named Robert Todd.

"Mmm . . . Robert Todd." Dad runs his hand over his bald spot, and then his face lights up. "No wonder the name sounds familiar. Robert Todd Lincoln was Abraham Lincoln's oldest son...." His voice trails off.

KayKay realizes that she has unmasked one fake ghost only to uncover a second Lincoln ghost in the White House.

Judith St. George has a good time with the White House setting, even suggesting that KayKay is reading her book So You Want to Be President? as she researches the presidents who died in office. The Ghost, The White House, And Me gives readers a chance to experience a touch of mystery while finding out what it would be like to live in the White House with their mom as the President of the United States.