Abe Lincoln's Dream (review)

Quincy, a young African-American girl, has wandered off from her school group while touring the White House. If that in itself isn't enough to signal a fantasy, then meeting up with the ghost of the sixteenth president surely is. Lincoln's penchant for corny wordplay and his soft spot for children are evident as he engages with Quincy in an exchange of goofy jokes, but the child readily senses the gloom and unease that trouble her otherwise gracious host, and the root of his depression is worry over the current state of the Union. Quincy is able to reassure Lincoln that the states have remained united, and equality for all is "getting better all the time." As to whether man continues to "fuss 'n' fight with his fellow man," Quincy has to admit, "We're still working on that," as a chair and broken glass erupt from the side of the U.S. Capitol. That's reassuring enough to put the wandering soul to rest, and to shift the president's persistent dream of a ship heading toward an unknown shore to that of a boat traveling toward the rising sun. A host of antique-style fonts and the dominant sepia, black, and red colors of the illustrations suggest printing of bygone days, but the lanky angularity and funky surrealism of the figures moving through the haunted White House and out into space are more akin to a Tim Burton creation. Two brief notes comment on Lincoln's recurring dream and the White House dogs that avoided the "haunted" Lincoln Bedroom, but children unequipped with prior knowledge of the causes of the president's depression won't find much enlightenment here. The picture-book set will be better served by Maira Kalman's equally imaginative approach in Looking at Lincoln BCCB 1/11), but this may be of passing interest to well-informed youngsters.