Mr. Lincoln's Way (edition 2001)

Mr. Lincoln's Way is about a principle who is very involved in his school and cares about his students dearly. He notices a first grade girl that gets her backpack stolen by a boy who's much older. She cries and tells Mr. Lincoln what happened. Mr. Lincoln talks to the young boy and determines that the boy is just troubled. Mr. Lincoln notices the boy also uses racist terms towards him and other students. Mr. Lincoln never holds any grudges against the boy but instead goes out of his way to help the boy. He finds that the boy is very interested in birds and is quite knowledgable about them. Mr. Lincoln helps the boy to do better by working with him and birds.
This is a very inspiring book for teachers and students. The teacher can use this as a reminder of how to handle mean students. This can also help students and teachers to try and examine the bigger problem. ( )

The prolific Patricia Polacco, whose Thank You, Mr. Falker was a picture-book tribute to the special teacher who helped her to learn to read, here turns her attention to the tale of an extraordinary principle, with predictably outstanding results. Mr. Lincoln was the heart and soul of his elementary school. He had tea parties with the kindergarten class, and took the sixth-graders on nature walks. He "was the coolest principle in the whole world." To everyone, that is, except Eugene Esterhause, a trouble-making student nicknamed "Mean Gene" because of his propensity for bullying the other children, and "sassing" the teachers. Seeing in this recalcitrant, disrespectful and thoughtlessly racist young boy a troubled and unhappy soul, Mr. Lincoln sought a way to reach out to Eugene, eventually finding it in his love of birds...

Mr. Lincoln's Way is another poignant picture-book triumph from Patricia Polacco, whose perceptive understanding of the world of childhood is matched only by her expressive and deeply satisfying artwork. I particularly appreciated the connection she drew between familial instability and bullying, and between parental example and the development of racist thinking. The story of how Mr. Lincoln reached Eugene, and taught him to respect and cherish difference, is especially inspiring for being true (as are so many of Polacco's tales), and I found the little afterword, in which we learn what good use Eugene made of Mr. Lincoln's example, in eventually becoming a teacher himself, very moving. The endpapers even show a grown-up Eugene with his diverse students, his "little birds." Well done, Patricia Polacco! ( )

Eugene is a bully at school; Mr. Lincoln sees this, and notices that there is something he can do to resolve this. He notices that Eugene takes a particular interest in birds, and has Eugene help build a bird sanctuary. There are a few hidden family issues that cause Eugene to struggle with his tasks a bit, but Mr. Lincoln doesn't give up on him because he knows that there is good in Eugene. Appropriate for grades 4 and up. ( )

The theme of "Mr. Lincoln's Way" is that every student has potential to be a better person/student. I liked it because the story had a good message that is easy to understand and it is also a very real scenario. I would recommend this book for 3rd graders.

In this story Eugene is a bully and Mr. Lincoln the school prinicpal is the one who saw the change in Eugene and in the change that he started that took place and how all people like birds are all different but get along.
Source: Pierce County Library
Ages: 4-6