Tuesday Talk: Happy Birthday!


From Amy:

Laura said I could write again on her Tuesday blog. So, get a piece of cake and make a wish. It's birthday time.

Happy Birthday to President Abraham Lincoln! And, Happy Birthday to me! That's right. I'm honored to share a birthday with such an incredible man.

My favorite book from childhood about President Lincoln remains Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire. It is a beautiful book first with an original copyright date of 1939. This book also won the prestigious Caldecott Award for its stunning artwork.

A few trivia tidbits about President Lincoln from this book:
* He was the son of a Kentucky farmer.
* His mother became sick and died when he was only 9 years old.
* It was his step-mother who encouraged President Lincoln to read as a child. She fostered his love of learning and reading. He was not able to attend school on a regular basis because he was helping his father on the farm. So President Lincoln would read by the firelight when all of the others had gone to bed. At times he even walked behind the plow, reading a book!
* The white scar above President Lincoln's eyebrow was earned during a fight with pirates! While working on the Ohio River, five pirates snuck on board his boat. Big Abe had no trouble fighting all the pirates off.
* Abraham first encountered the unbearable cruelness of slavery in New Orleans.
* Abraham became a widower when his wife, Ann, grew sick and died. Sad and with no money, Abraham studied law. Then he moved to Springfield, Illinois.
* Mary Todd became Abraham's second wife. They added 3 boys to their family. Abraham continued to read by the fire in the parlor, often with the 3 boys climbing and wrestling with him.
* When Abraham went to Washington as a Congressmen, he carried his books in a red handkerchief slung over his shoulder.
* When he became President Lincoln, he left the prairie and moved his family to Washington via train.
* It was on New Year's Day in 1863 that President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President!


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