Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance

REVIEWED BY: Wayne Walker Originally published in 1959 by Rand McNally and Company, and later republished by Scholastic Book Services, a division of Scholastic Magazines (forerunner of Scholastic Inc.), this is a great slightly-fictionalized biography of Abraham Lincoln for young people. Being from Rand McNally, it reads like one of their excellent "Landmark Books" for young people that were very popular back in the 1950s and early 1960s. A note from Cavanah says, "In writing the story of Abraham Lincoln, the author depended primarily on Lincoln's own statements and on the statements of his family and friends who had firsthand knowledge of his everyday life. In instances when dialogue had to be imagined, the conversation might logically have taken place in light of known circumstances. Such descriptive details were necessarily added based on authentic accounts of pioneer times." The book begins with Abe's birth on Feb. 12, 1809, and focuses primarily on his younger years, growing up in Kentucky, moving with his family to Indiana, losing his mother Nancy, gaining a step-mother Sarah Bush Lincoln, going to school, taking a raft of goods to New Orleans, then moves on to his settling in Illinois, and finally ends with his winning the Presidency of the United States. Echo Library has done us a wonderful service by reprinting this fine book.