He Has Shot the President

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - North Yarmouth Academy, Yarmouth, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: January 8, 2015

Review

Volume five in the "Actual Times" series, this title tells the story of the day President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. The book sets up the shooting with some background about the discontent felt by Confederate supporters and their plot to take down the entire administration, and then describes the assassination and the reaction of the entire nation, including the manhunt for Booth and his accomplice David Herold. The book does a nice job with details of the assassination as well as painting that broader picture of what was happening in the country as the manhunt went on. Lincoln's funeral is described and the response of militia and common citizens as they said farewell to their beloved President. The book is accessible and truly captures the entirety of the event. Yet Brown does not hold back from his reader. There is a pretty graphic image of a man with a pistol aimed at his head as he is questioned about the whereabouts of Booth, and the final, haunting image of the four accomplices sentenced to death by hanging. The illustrations, in general, are muted but action-packed and add quite a lot to the narrative. This is the perfect starting point for 3rd-5th grade readers interested in the Lincoln assassination. In a few years, they can read Swanson's Chasing Lincoln's Killer, and then the full version Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. I like the idea of a series that covers only a few days in American history as they can be used to really dig into an event. Based on this title, I am very interested in the other titles in Brown's series. Highly recommend.

Overall Book Score: excellent