Kid Konnection: It's Up to You, Abe Lincoln

Every weekend, I host a feature called Kid Konnection -- a regular weekly feature about anything related to children's books. This week I'm going to share with you a terrific book that's perfect for the President's Day holiday.

Summary: History gets hilarious in this interactive Abraham Lincoln biography that will have readers laughing while they learn. Perfect for readers of Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales.

Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents of all time. But what did it take to rise from frontier poverty? To lead his country through the Civil War? To alter the course of history forever?

Father-daughter team Tom and Leila Hirschfeld’s tongue-in-cheek biography explores ten crucial decisions in one amazing life. With over one hundred pieces of archival and original art, fun facts, sidebars, historical trivia, and more, this book follows Abe’s footsteps through the close calls that defined his leadership and shaped America as we know it today. -- Crown Books for Young Readers

IT'S UP TO YOU, ABE LINCOLN: HOW I MADE THE BIGGEST DECISIONS OF MY LIFE by Tom & Lelia Hirschfeld is a fantastic biography of one of our country's best (if not the best) presidents. It's a unique look at President Lincoln's life and the difficult choices he made along the way. The book focuses on how ten of Lincoln's decisions forever changed the course of his life... and our country.

IT'S UP TO YOU, ABE LINCOLN isn't your typical biography and that's why it's so fun for readers ages eight to twelve years old (but if I'm being honest, I think high school kids will appreciate this book too.) While the book includes all this important historical aspects of his life, it presents the information in an almost casual and fun way. There are photographs and pictures with little speech bubbles that make the history lessons humorous as well as sidebars with interesting tidbits.

But what I really liked about this book was that it was more than just a history lesson. I was pleasantly surprised by how much information was in this almost 300 page book, but it was presented in such a way to make readers realize just how much Lincoln's choices mattered. For every turning point in Lincoln's life (or at least the ten major ones), readers are given four options that he could have made. Even one different decision could have been detrimental to the future of the United States. It also makes young readers see history in a different light... while also making learning fun.

IT'S UP TO YOU, ABE LINCOLN is just terrific for so many reasons. Highly recommended for President's Day and every day!

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this book.

If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to grab the little button too!