Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country) by Kathleen Krull

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Krull, Kathleen, & Brewer, P. 2010. Illustrator: Stacy Innerst. Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. ISBN: 9780152066390.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
We always think of Abraham Lincoln as a serious president with serious issues at hand, but never as a president with a sense of humor. This complete biography shows Mr. Lincoln in a humorous light. Krull and Brewer make light of Lincoln’s life and shows how he overcame many obstacles in his life through humor. Lincoln lived in a bleak log cabin where his bed was made of corn husks and had a strict father. Because Lincoln could read and write his neighbors would hire him to write letters for them. Lincoln loved to read so much which is why his speeches were brilliant. He was a master of grammar. While in office people did not take him seriously because of his humor. The war had begun and Lincoln continued his humor. He said laughter kept him going through tough times. It is said that even in his last moments of life Lincoln was laughing. Lincoln is considered one the best presidents because he kept a nation from breaking apart.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In the last page of the book Krull has notes about her accuracy and its sources. She has a link to his famous serious words, www.lincolnbicentennial.gov/lincolns-life/words-and-speeches. “Lincoln tells a joke” is chronologically organized. Krull begins Lincolns life when he was just a little boy, he then joined the army for three months, attends school to become a lawyer, marries Mary Todd, becomes president and is assassinated.
Its design is very appealing to young readers. Illustrations show the funny side of Lincoln with his quotes in bigger text. Children need to see that quotes must be surrounded by quotation marks to stress dialogue. Illustrations are appropriate and complement the text.
Krulls style is all her own when on each page she begins the first few words of almost every page in big bold print words.This strategy helps to grab the reader in finishing the reading of each page. Again, her quotes are in cursive to give a sense of giving Lincoln a more personal approach. What I noticed is that Krull uses appropriate language for children to easily understand Lincoln’s personality traits.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
* Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, 2010
* School Library Journal Book Review Stars, 2010
* "Laughter is not only good medicine. It can also be a political tool, human motivator, and saving   grace, as the authors show in this upbeat overview of Lincoln’s life. Moving through the sixteenth president’s many challenges, from family deaths to lost elections to fighting slavery, the text emphasizes how Lincoln coped with a joke on his tongue and a smile on his lips."  Booklist (February 15, 2010 (Vol. 106, No. 12))

5. CONNECTIONS
* Invite students to write their own jokes.
* Teach about quotations and students can write a dialogue within pairs of students.
* Create a compare and contrast with Lincoln and their(student) own life.