True Tale from the Crypt: Lincoln's Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin

The broken lock fell to the ground.

Mullen pushed the gate open and entered the small room. Hughes stepped in with the lantern, followed by Swegles.

Hughes pointed the light at the floor. There it was: the long, white marble sarcophagus. At one end, carved into the stone was the name: LINCOLN. In an arc above the name were the famous words of his second inaugural address: WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE, WITH CHARITY FOR ALL.

Despite the veneration that his nation has paid this revered president, Abraham Lincoln did not lead a charmed life. Indeed, bad fortune followed him even beyond the grave. 2013 Newbery-winning (for Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon (Newbery Honor Book), author Steve Sheinkin's newest, Lincoln's Grave Robbers (Scholastic, 2013), tells the little-known story of the nearly successful attempt to steal his body from its crypt in the Springfield Lincoln Monument.

The Secret Service was a new federal agency in 1875, conceived, not yet to guard the president, but to stop the rampant counterfeiting that threatened the credibility of legitimate Treasury currency. Its first success was the conviction of master engraver Ben Boyd. Without Boyd, the "coneymen" of the Midwest were deprived of their premier artist, the source of the highly realistic "coney" (counterfeit money) which had supplied a Mafia-like network of criminals. The remaining members of the chain knew that without Boyd to prepare the plates, there would be no easy funny money, no further fortunes for them. And so was born an bizarre and daring plan: to steal Lincoln's body from its unguarded crypt in its Springfield monument and ransom it for the release of Boyd from federal prison and $200,000 in cash.

Enter the hero of Sheinkin's narrative--early Secret Service agent Patrick Tyrell. Based in Chicago, Tyrell had cultivated a network of informers and gotten wind of an early attempt to steal Lincoln's body which was aborted when one of the conspirators bragged to an attractive female drinking companion of the coming heist of the Presidential coffin. In a sort of Law and Order story of careful detective work, Agent Tyrell shadowed the known counterfeiters in the plot, but in order to assure that the conspirators would be caught in the act and convicted, he needed inside information. Tyrell's objective was, of course, to keep Lincoln's body safe, but also to obtain the information to convict and put away "Big Jim" Kennally, the mastermind and paymaster of the conspirators. And for that he recruited the perfect mole, a double agent who could join the conspiracy and tip off the agents when the deal would actually go down.

That man was Lewis Swegles, horse thief, burglar, and ex-con, a man of steel nerves and, it appears, great acting ability who agreed, for a goodly sum, to infiltrate the gang and report their plans back to the small coterie of Secret Service agents assigned to the case. In a cloak-and-dagger case which involved months of shadowing, secret meetings and messages, at last the date of the caper was known--November 7, Election Day, when the entire town of Springfield would be consumed with the incredibly close presidential race between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden.

The Lincoln Monument with its crypt, Lincoln's body inside a marble sarcophagus, was dark and apparently unguarded, as a small team of agents and a couple of hired Pinkerton detectives huddled inside the "labyrinth," a system of tunnels under the towering obelisk that separated the museum from the crypt. Everything was going according to Tyrell's plan--until one of the hired detectives, hearing Swegles' whispered code word, scrambled toward the opening to the crypt and accidentally set off his revolver. Leaving Lincoln's wooden casket half out of the its sarcophagus, the conspirators fled into nearby woods and into the night.

What followed was, for that time, an epic manhunt.  Sheinkin's narrative of this presidential grave-robbing thriller documents what followed in a cops-and-robbers story for the ages, right down to the secret opening of Lincoln's coffin to ensure that the body snatchers had not fled with his body itself during the heist. This is a true crime story, a historical nail biter of a tale, well-told by Sheinkin and just right for his young adult readers. Publishers Weekly calls it A sizzling tale of real-life historical intrigue."

For young historians who may have been inspired to investigate Lincoln lore by the excellent Academy Award nominated movie, LINCOLN (which I can strongly recommend to middle- and high-school viewers), Sheinkin's absorbing and well-researched (with ample appendix for young researchers) Lincoln's Grave Robbers offers an awesome historical read.

Sister Sally's Story: My Brother Abe: Sally Lincoln's Story by Harry Mazer

In this year bicentennial birth year of Abraham Lincoln, veteran writer Harry Mazer has turned his considerable storytelling and historical fiction skills to an account to some of the most formative years of Lincoln's childhood, narrated by his older sister Sarah, called Sally.

When Abe was eight and Sally ten, the Lincoln family, Thomas and Nancy, were faced with the prospect of losing their 278 acre farm on Knob Creek in Kentucky. Kentucky's frontier land laws were lax, and Thomas Lincoln learned that title to the land he had bought and paid for in cash was actually held by others. Sadly and in disgust with their state's law, the family left their comfortable house which able carpenter Thomas had built on the Louisville-Nashville Road and with their cow Sweet Pea and wagon pulled by their horse Branch, set out to homestead Federal land available in the undeveloped woods of Indiana.

Sally tells the story of that trip, camping beside the road, falling behind and getting lost, and finally arriving to what seemed like an utter wilderness. Sally describes their three-sided lean-to cabin, her fear of wild animals as they slept with little but a fire between them and the forest, and the joy when neighbors gathered to help them raise a small, dirt-floored cabin in which they lived while their father cleared land for spring planting.

Sally and Abe had occasionally been able to attend a Mr. Riney's subscription school in Knob Creek, but now their education was mostly in the tasks of daily life. Abe, tall and unusually strong like his father, began his skills with the axe, and Sally helped her mother with almost all of the other tasks of survival, collecting dandelion and plantain roots and leaves to supplement the wild meat that Thomas brought home.

"There was goodness and patience in Mama that I could never find in in me," Sally says, but despite childhood quarrels and competition, Sally and her younger brother grew up close, practicing reading and writing whenever they could. Their love and loyalty was tested greatly when their beloved mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of "milk fever," (snakeroot poisoning) and their father fell into an unusually idle depression. At last a letter arrived from a dear childhood friend, Sarah Bush Johnson, who, having heard from relatives of Nancy's death, wrote a letter of condolence and mentioned that she also was left with children to raise after her husband's death. Thomas soon dictated a reply to Sarah, proposing a marriage of convenience for both of them, and when Sally was twelve and Abe ten, he set forth to Kentucky to fetch Sarah back as their new stepmother.

Left alone with only their teen-aged cousin Dennis Hanks, who had lost his guardians to milk fever also, Sally and Abe endured a hard time during their father's absence, but the marriage proved a good one for the Lincoln children. Sarah Johnson arrived with three children, furniture, household goods, and boundless energy and affection for her new stepchildren. A woman whose respect for learning prompted her to transport books across the wilderness, Sarah encouraged their further education when it was available and allowed them to read and learn despite her own minimal literacy.

In his My Brother Abe: Sally Lincoln's Story, (Simon & Schuster, 2009) Harry Mazer uses Sally Lincoln's keen spirit and lively voice to tell the story of little brother Abe's early years in a way which speaks straight to the heart of elementary readers. Through his spirited but dutiful big sister's eyes, the reader sees both the trials and the joys of a frontier family which helped shape the man Lincoln became. For youngsters who may find the textbook accounts of Lincoln's later life a bit remote, this new piece of historical fiction, filled with childhood fun and adventures as well as hardships, will help them understand the child who was father of the man.

Goat in the White House: Lincoln And His Boys by Rosemary Wells

"Mama ordered a new black suit for Papa-day" says Taddie from his pillow. "She sent money in the letter. Two pairs of trousers."

With that whispered confidence between Tad and Willie Lincoln one night in 1859, the chain of events is set in motion which leads to their years in the White House, sadly for Willie and, as we know, for his father Abe, their last.

In her memoir of the White House days of Tad and Willie and their Pa, Lincoln and His Boys, Rosemary Wells gives us an intimate, first-person-voiced account of what it was like for a child living in The President's House, as it was known then, in the wartime capital of Washington, D.C.

In alternating chapters narrated by first Willie and then Tad Lincoln, we see their mother's recurring bouts of melancholy as a child would see them, their father's efforts to raise her spirits and keep her engaged in their lives despite her sadness over the earlier death of a son. The story begins as Willie goes along to Chicago on a big train to pick up the prophetic suit which his father will wear in the coming campaign, where talk of the coming conflict is open and a bit scary to the older brother.

Then in 1861 Tad and Willie take the twelve-day railroad trip to Washington, D.C., a big adventure for the boys, even though their father conceals his identity in what the brothers consider funny disguises because of death threats from the Copperheads.

In Washington Mary Todd Lincoln throws herself energetically into refurbishing the White House, grumbling about "bachelor presidents" who had let the place run down dreadfully. Meanwhile, Tad and Willie make friends with Holly and Bud Taft, with whom they explore secret attic rooms and dusty basement storerooms full of forgotten treasures--a Minuteman's uniform, a rusted sword and guns and trunks full of clothes and trinkets left by past presidents. On the roof they build a fort, with mock cannons assembled out of the largest logs the four boys can muster, to defend the President's House from the Rebels, and at last the boys finally persuade Pa to get them a pet goat.

Although, as we know, the ending of Tad Lincoln's life in the White House was not a happy one, Rosemary Wells manages to highlight the boyhood fun the two brothers shared in their White House years, while keeping the reader aware of the underlying seriousness of the time. P. J. Lynch's illustrations are striking and lovely and add much to the appeal of this beginning chapter book. With children about the ages of Tad and Willie Lincoln now living in that same historic President's House, Lincoln and His Boys (Candlewick Press, 2008) should be popular with today's young readers.

For a spirited account of Lincoln's own boyhood, see Judith St. George's Stand Tall, Abe Lincoln, reviewed here on February 12, 2008.

Fish Tale: Abe's Fish: A Boyhood Tale of Abraham Lincoln by Jen Bryant

Once, when asked what he remembered about the war with Great Britain, Lincoln replied:

"Nothing but this. I had been fishing one day and caught a little fish which I was taking home. I met a soldier on the road and, having been always told at home that we must be good to the soldiers, I gave it to him."

Abe was hungry. Turnip soup and the berries he and his sister Sarah picked daily never quite fill his family's bellies, but little Abe, no more than six years old, is too small to help his dad clear land for pay, and picking berries under his bossy big sister's direction is his daily lot. That is, until one day his father gives him a new job.

"Why don't you take your fishing pole over to Knob Creek--see if you can catch us a fish for dinner?"

As he happily sets out, little Abe repeats the word to himself--fish, fish, fish. It has a nice sound, and Abe loves words. He loves the sound of them on his tongue; he loves drawing them in the dirt; and he loves reading them on the days he gets to tag along with his sister to school. And Abe's empty stomach reminds him that he hadn't had a fish for dinner in way too long. At the creek he sets to work and finally lands a fine, fat perch. As the shadows grow long, he starts proudly back home with his catch.

The fat fish swinging at his side, already he could smell it cooking over the fire. He could see Ma's smile and feel Pa's pride. Even Sarah would have to admit Abe had done well!

But then Abe meets a soldier--tattered and thin, with worn-out boots--walking down the road. Abe remembers his mother's admonition, "Be good to the soldiers," and his teacher's words when he asked why the soldiers were heading north to fight the British. "For freedom," she had replied.

Abe remembers a cricket he caught and put in a homemade cage and how it quit moving and chirping until he gave it its freedom. But people didn't live in cages, did they? Why would they have to fight for freedom, he wonders.

But then Abe sees how hungrily the soldier looks at his fish, and with some reluctance he finally makes a decision.

"Here," said Abe at last. "I can catch another one, I reckon."

Then Abe has to ask the soldier his question.

"Did you see freedom?" he asked.

"I reckon I did see it sometimes," the soldier replied. "But other times it seemed a long way off."

Back home, Sarah is unhappy that Abe has given away their supper, but Ma and Pa seem to understand that Abe was only trying to be good to a soldier fighting for their freedom. Practicing spelling to himself that night, Abe repeats the words he knows:

"D-O-G, F-O-G, F-L-A-G." Pa had said the flag stood for freedom. He tried the word out in his mouth. It was a big word. Abe could tell the next time he went to school he would practice writing it.

"Someday" Abe thought, "it might be a good word to know."

On the two-hundredth anniversary of his birth, it is good to have a new story about Abraham Lincoln's childhood. Jen Bryant's Abe's Fish: A Boyhood Tale of Abraham Lincoln, is a good story, rooted in truth and well told for her intended audience. Her little Abe yearns to be strong enough to pick up his father's big axe and tall enough to reach a tempting apple hanging too high in the tree, but is proud to be able to do the grown-up work of bringing home food for supper, although he also mischievously saves his last worm to plant on his sister's pillow that night. Illustrations by Amy Bates are executed in pencil and watercolors in soft greens, browns, and russets, with each page of text cleverly enclosed in a frame of rustic twigs. As she describes the young Abe Lincoln resolving to remember the word freedom for the future, the artist's final page shows President Lincoln presumably writing his "Gettysburg Address," putting to good use that one big word he puzzled about so long ago:

"...this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

A worthy addition to the read-aloud repertoire about our sixteenth president.

A New Birth of Freedom: Abe's Honest Words by Doreen Rappaport and Kadir Nelson

Abraham Lincoln is my name,
And with my pen I wrote the same.
I wrote in both haste and speed,
And left it here for fools to read.

The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who'll git me a book I ain't read.

In both of these earliest writings of Abraham Lincoln, his love of reading and writing and his noted sense of humor shine forth. In her timely Abe's Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln Doreen Rappaport, award-winning author of Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has put together a compendium of his own words at pivotal moments in his lifetime in a moving tribute to Lincoln, whose two-hundredth birthday is honored this year. Here are Lincoln's own thoughts when, as a very young man, he traveled down the Mississippi to New Orleans and witnessed a slave auction in progress:

"Twelve Negroes, chained six and six, strung together like so many fish on a trotline, being separated forever from their childhood and friends, their fathers and mothers, their brothers and sisters, from their wives and children, into perpetual slavery."

We also hear the consummate drive that Lincoln brought to his own self-education:

"Upon the subject of education, I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in."

But Lincoln's time in the White House was mostly taken up with issues of war and the end of slavery. Although the decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, with all its implications for the war and peace to follow, came hard, Lincoln's mind was at last firmly fixed:

"I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper. My whole soul is in it.... In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free."

And in the second inaugural address came a message to the future nation which has haunted and inspired us to this day:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds."

Abe's Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln pairs Lincoln's well-known but still striking words with Kadir Nelson's strong and stunning illustrations which visually echo the President's thoughts perfectly. Of all the many good books for children on Honest Abe, this one stands out artistically and thematically as an extraordinary portrait of our most honored president through his own powerful words.

Celebrating Abe's Day: Our Abe Lincoln by Jim Aylesworth

Presenting a bit of history as complex as the life and accomplishments of President Abraham Lincoln to young children is actually a daunting task. Fortunately, as we celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth on February 9, 2009, we have a sparkling new picture book, just published, which has found a way to make young elementary kids a part of the story.

Jim Aylesworth's Our Abe Lincoln (Blue Sky Press, 2009) begins with the kids of Abraham Lincoln Elementary School preparing for a big performance. Signs on the gym wall proclaim "TONIGHT! OUR ABE LINCOLN", while backstage we see excited students getting into period dresses and suits, styling historical wigs, or pulling on skunk, bear, and raccoon costumes, while young stagehands put the final touches on a log cabin backdrop. Banjo and fiddle players consult with the pianist, while families and friends file into the bunting-draped room and take their seats expectantly.

As a tableau of Tom, Nancy, sister Sally, and baby Abraham take their place center stage, the curtain opens and the chorus begins:

"Babe Abe Lincoln was born in the wilderness,
Born in the wilderness,
Born in the wilderness,
Babe Abe Lincoln was born in the wilderness,
Many long years ago."

Scene after scene follow, documenting Abe's young life, all following the familiar verse form of "The Old Grey Mare.":

"Smart Abe Lincoln read by the firelight...."

True Abe Lincoln was praised for his honesty....

Tall Abe Lincoln made friends there in Illinois....
Many glad years ago."

And then the children turn to the hard years of Lincoln's public service.

"Wise Abe Lincoln said 'No more to slavery...,'
Many brave days ago.

Sad Abe Lincoln spoke grand words at Gettysburg...,
Many lost souls ago.

Great Abe Lincoln died hard for his noble deeds...,
Many sad tears ago."

At last the full cast assembles onstage for the grand finale as, joined by the audience, all sing

"Our Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness...,
Many proud days ago!"

Using the frame story of an elementary school play will surely engage children who have performed or watched such performances on their own stage, and the easy-to-learn song hits the main points of Lincoln's life upon which teachers and parents can build for a fuller picture of his importance in our history. Barbara McClintock's lively and appealing illustrations are central to the success of this essential picture book which should find its place in the annual Presidents' Day story time rotation and in every school and public library.

Historic Meeting: Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship by Nikki Giovanni

Barack Obama may be the first African-American president when he moves into the White House, but abolitionist Frederick Douglass was probably the first African-American guest invited by a president to the inauguration gala there.

Indeed, as the elegantly dressed guests filled the White House ballroom on the inauguration evening of March 4, 1865, Mary Todd Lincoln noticed that her husband kept looking around for someone.

"Is something wrong?" she queried.

"I'm looking for my friend Frederick Douglass. I had invited him to come and bring his wife," Lincoln responded. "Oh, there you are, Fred," he said a bit later. "I thought I saw you a while ago."

"Yes, sir, you did," said Douglass, "but there was a misunderstanding about the door through which I was to enter. The gentleman invited my wife and me to go around to the rear door, and we declined. No matter. It has been cleared up."

Despite the displeasure of some of the guests, it was an historic moment when the two old friends shared the inaugural celebration that night in the White House Indeed, a degree of shared history already lay behind the two unlikely allies. Both were virtually self-educated, and both overcame much to become the leaders who shared that historic meeting and symbolic moment.

Giovanni tells how Lincoln and Douglass first met when Lincoln became a congressman from Illinois. Douglass sought him out as a possible supporter in the cause of Negro emancipation. The two also shared, as the author points out, a love of good food and the need to laugh together despite the deep discord of the time in which their friendship developed. Over the years Douglass pushed his friend toward his eventual belief that the nation could not prosper or continue while the institution of slavery persisted. What the two set in motion has been a long time coming, but then, as we know from another eloquent president, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Award-winning poet and author Nikki Giovanni's Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship (Henry Holt, 2009) is just in time to join the celebration of Abraham Lincoln's bicentennial birthday. Joined by artist Bryan Collier, the co-creator of their Caldecott Honor book and Coretta Scott King award-winning Rosa,honoring Rosa Parks, Giovanni's picture story of an significant American friendship is a welcome addition to books for young readers about our sixteenth president--and about his unlikely but remarkable friend.