Abe Lincoln and the Selfie that Saved the Union by David Potter - OPTIONAL

Potter, David Abe Lincoln and the Selfie that Saved the Union (The Left Behinds 2), 282 pages.  Crown (Random), 2016.  $17.  

Content: G (tense, but clean).

The Left behinds refuse to stay in the present day; instead, they are spooked by happenings and behavior of the iTimes creator and immediately head back into the past.  This time they land in Washington DC in 1863 – into the Lincoln presidency and The on to the battle at Gettysburg, where they need to stop Mr. Kurtis from trying to wreck American history again.

Things are more chaotic this time around and feel less authentic.  

I think Potter is playing everything up for laughs this time around.  Lincoln, his son, and his wife all come off as caricatures with little common sense.  The action the kids need to undertake have nothing to do with the title of the book.  And the adults back in the present day act like fools.  If this had been the first book in the series, I don’t think I would have recommended it as buyable.  And check out that cover – the kids are supposed to be almost 13, but they look like they are 8.  Hmm – what went wrong this time around?

EL, MS – OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher