My new picture book, ABE LINCOLN CROSSES A CREEK, illustrated by John Hendrix, comes out this week. This is a simple story – a retelling of an incident in Lincoln’s childhood that took place in Kentucky, in 1816, when Abraham Lincoln was seven years old and was rescued from Knob Creek by his friend, Austin Gollaher.

But the book is also my attempt to urge even the youngest readers to begin thinking about history not just facts to be memorized, but a process of asking questions, solving mysteries, and discovering fascinating stories and people.

I write book reviews myself, so I’m aware of how depressing a review can make an author feel! Of course, the very best book reviewers are young readers themselves -- and, based on the letters I've gotten over the years, kids have no problems expressing strong opinions about where an author went wrong! But since ABE hasn’t yet reached young readers yet, here’s a sampling of reviews to date.

Hopkinson has created a lively, participatory tale that will surely stand out among the many titles published to honor the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth…
* Starred Review, School Library Journal


Abe Lincoln, a storyteller of great repute, would be hard-pressed to beat Hopkinson’s considerable skills in recounting this incident from childhood, in which Lincoln’s friend Austin Gollaher saved him from drowning in the rushing waters of Kentucky’s Knob Creek…
Horn Book Magazine

…just how do you handle a legend? Deborah Hopkinson has found a way, and it’s a winner….By the time Hopkinson is done with the account, it’s a full-blown adventure, fraught with derring-do, loyal friendship, raging rapids, a nation’s future saved by a hair, and even a moral. (Or two). But isn’t that (gasp!) brazen embroidery? Doesn’t it involve (horrors!) imagined dialogue? Aren’t the details (oh, woe!) unverifiable? Sure. The fun and illumination come in when Hopkinson and Hendrix let readers in on the entire tale-making process, demonstrating how the tellers’ craft turns observation and rumor into story…
* Starred Review, Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books


Deborah
deborahhopkinson@yahoo.com