Martha Brenner

A fun and educational biography, Abe Lincoln's Hat uses a unique framework to point out many human sides of Lincoln's life that I didn't know previously. Kids will enjoy how he wasn't organized and some of the slice-of-life stories about pranks and hardships of working a traveling circuit. The book addresses his political growth and development on the issues of slavery and managing a divided country in ways that educate without condescending to young readers. It glosses over the Civil War a show more little too much, even for younger readers, but has great info and picture at the end of the book that partially make up for that. It is a quality addition to a section on Lincoln or the era. Appropriate even for very young readers, good for history, biography, and just as a story. show less

Great picture book to introduce kids to Abe Lincoln and history. To learn that Abe was in fact poor and a lawyer early in his career. The pictures in this book are greatly illustrated, relating to the words on the pages. Finding out later that his tall black hat was more than a fashion statement that defined Abe’s character. Abe was a very unorganized lawyer, forgetting to reply to mail, always losing papers. So, Abe bought a black hat, “He could push letters deep inside it.” Abe’s show more hat was tall, purposefully to keep his important documents safe. As the story goes on we learn that Abe told jokes that made everyone laugh, even the judge. This shows Abe’s personality that he was not only a politician, but he had a sense of humor as well. Another great quality that Abe had was that he fought for slavery. Once becoming president in 1860, Abe passed laws that would free all slaves. Even after winning the election for president, Abe still kept his important documents in his hat.
This is a book where we find humor and learn about Abe’s hat. A good group read to engage kids in the book, keeping them guessing what is in the hat. show less

I enjoyed this book. The characters are very well developed , especially Abe himself. I liked how they gave him a personality and the book wasn't just purely information about him, For example, the book focused on his hat and how he put papers in there so he wouldn't forget them. The book did this in conjunction with giving information about his life and contributions. Another reason I liked the book was for its writing. It was engaging to the reader. For example, particular scene on the show more book where the children tripped Abe and his papers went flying everywhere set a sad tone for thst point in the story, as it insinuated that Abe would forget everything without his papers. He ended up remembering, but still continued to put papers in his hat. The main point of the story was to inform readers a bout Abe Lincoln's life and how he used his hat to help remember things, This in turn helped him to achieve many goals as president. show less

This book is a riveting story about what Abe Lincoln's life was like when he was a lawyer. Though the story depicts him as a great guy with very few faults, they do show how he enjoyed a good joke and show that he liked to help people. The book says Lincoln was against slavery though it does not tell that he once held slaves himself while he was president. This is still a quality story to help young children know that Lincoln was more than just the president of the United States.