Abraham Lincoln's Dueling Words by Donna Janell Bowman - OPTIONAL

Abraham Lincoln’s Dueling Words by Donna Janell Bowman, illustrated by S.D. Schindler.  PICTURE BOOK/NON-FICTION  Peachtree, 2018.  $18  9781561458523  

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) – OPTIONAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW  

Abraham Lincoln was called to a duel against the Illinois State Auditor, James Shields.  When Illinois was going through a financial crisis, it was Shields opinion that everyone should have to pay taxes with silver and gold, but the poor were already struggling and that law was too much for the poor.  Lincoln was upset with this political move and anonymously wrote to the paper against Shields, eventually Shields found out it was Lincoln and had taken the letter personally, calling Lincoln to a duel.  The duel was called off and handled well by the seconds and Lincoln was embarrassed that it ever came to a duel in the first place.  

This picture book tells a little unknown story about Abraham Lincoln and at the back it explains that Lincoln never really wanted this story known.  The illustrations are well done and the story is interesting, but there is a large amount of text and I’m not sure how interested young readers would be in this book.  I don’t think kids will pick this up to read (unless they love Lincoln) and it’s such a specific story I’m not sure when a classroom would have use for this book.  

C. Peterson.