Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country) »

KATHLEEN KRULL is well known for her innovative, award-winning nonfiction for young readers, which includes the successful Lives of... series. She is a book reviewer and former children's book editor. Kathleen Krull lives in San Diego, CA. www.kathleenkrull.com

Stacy Innerst, an award-winning editorial artist and the illustrator of several picture books, has long had an interest in Lincoln and the Civil War. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can visit his website at www.stacyinnerst.com.

Paul Brewer is known for bringing, friendly, humorous, and well-researched nonfiction to young readers. He lives in San Diego, California, with his wife, Kathleen Krull. You can visit his website at www.paul.brewer.com.

Poor Abraham Lincoln! His life was hardly fun at all. A country torn in two by war, citizens who didn't like him as president, the loss of two young sons, a homely appearance--what could there possibly be to laugh about? And yet he did laugh. Lincoln wasn't just one of our greatest presidents. He was a comic storyteller, a lover of jokes, someone who could lighten a grim situation with a clever quip. What better way to deal with a hard life than to find the humor in it?

This unusual biography of Lincoln touches on the highlights of his life and presidency, focusing on what made his sense of humor so distinctive--and so necessary to surviving his tough life and times.

Publishers Weekly

Krull and her husband, Brewer, begin this unique portrait of Lincoln by cataloguing the reasons he had to be depressed (“His childhood was harsh. He looked homely and he knew it”). Subsequent pages proceed to tell Lincoln's story through the lens of his antidote for these disappointments: humor. Whether finding it in joke books or by making fun of his ungainly frame and snobby in-laws (“ 'One d is enough for God, but the Todds need two,' he wrote”), this chronological biography shows how the president used his sophisticated wit and penchant for wordplay to salve hardships and soothe foes. The hazy edges, muted hues, and earth tones of Innerst's (M Is for Music) stylized acrylics underline the image of Lincoln as backwoodsman-turned-politician. Exaggerated faces and cartoon touches keep the tone light, even as the authors touch on serious subjects. The final spread depicts Lincoln seated in his D.C. memorial chuckling as he reads a humor book he enjoyed as a boy. Readers will smile, too, at this lighthearted look at Lincoln and the many droll quotations attributed to him. Ages 5-8. (Apr.)