Just a few words, Mr. Lincoln: The story of the Gettysburg Address (All aboard reading) by Fritz, Jean (1997) Paperback - Softcover

Acclaimed biographer, Jean Fritz, was born in China where she lived until the age of thirteen. She tells her story in Homesick, My Own Story, a Newbery Honor Book.      Ms Fritz is the author of forty-five books for children and young people. Many center on historical American figures, gaining her a reputation as the premier author of biographies for children and young people.      Among the prestigious awards Ms. Fritz has garnered are: a medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture, a Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, an American Book Award, a Christopher Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Non-Fiction Award, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and many ALA Notable Books of the Year, School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, and ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice Awards.   

The All Aboard Reading series adds another of Fritz's ( The Double Life of Pocahantas ; Can't You Make Them Behave, King George? ) lively titles illuminating an episode in American history. Here Fritz explains that President Lincoln had two "big jobs": he had to free the slaves and he had to win the Civil War. She focuses on the year 1863 when, after 23,000 Union soldiers were killed in the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln was asked to speak at a ceremony honoring the fallen troops. Dispelling traditional lore that the President scratched out his speech on the back of an envelope during the train ride to Gettysburg, Fritz explains that it was prepared in advance, needing only a last-minute "lick." Making history tangible in a delightfully down-to-earth way, the author writes that Lincoln's address was very brief; after uttering a mere 271 words, "he was finished. It took longer to boil an egg." Featuring typeface, vocabulary and themes carefully geared to her intended audience, the text informally yet ably conveys the significance of Lincoln's eloquent speech, which is reprinted on the book's final page. Interspersed among Robinson's subdued, well-populated drawings are several period photos. Ages 7-9.
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