Mr. Lincoln's Way

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. show more 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! show less

One of my favorite Patricia Polaccos, this book will make even the most difficult and stubborn kid reflective (even if only for a moment). The true story discusses a challenging student filled with hateful messages from his father and the principal who takes it upon himself to guide and nurture the young man. The book is rich with personal connections for students and can be integrated with science, social studies, or language arts. I pull this book out for class discussions when there has been bullying or when students are especially uncooperative- I wouldn't teach without it!

Mr. Lincoln is a principal who is loved and respected by all students. He notices that Eugene, a boy in his school, is struggling and a bully to others. Eugene hates everyone who is different from him, especially Mr. Lincoln. While Eugene is acting out, Mr. Lincoln knows that he isn't a true bully, he is just misguided. Mr. Lincoln connects with Eugene through birds, and Eugene opens up to Mr. Lincoln. It turns out that Eugene is just repeating words he has heard from his father, and he wishes to reconnect with his grandfather. Mr. Lincoln helps Eugene to see that differences make people special and to respect others for who they are.

In this book, Polacco tackles both intolerance and bullying. Mr. Lincoln is the "coolest" principal: he is Santa at Christmas, lights the menorah at Chanukah, and wears a dashiki for Kwanza and a burnoose for Ramadan. The author chronicles his attempt to reclaim "Mean Gene," a child who sasses his teachers, picks on other children, and makes ethnic slurs. "`He's not a bad boy, really,' Mr. Lincoln said. `Only troubled.'" However, the distinction is not clarified. When the principal discovers that the boy is fond of birds, he capitalizes on this interest. He involves him in attracting the creatures to the school atrium while at the same time showing him that just as the differences in the birds render them beautiful, so do the show more differences in people. While the theme is an important and timely one, Polacco has allowed her message to overwhelm both plot and character development. The story emerges as didactic, laden with heavy-handed metaphor, and too simplistic a solution to a deep-rooted problem. The book may be useful to schools in need of a springboard for discussion of the topic and is graced with impressive watercolors, but it is not up to the author's usual literary standards.

After reading this book I would ask the students as a group to take a minute to think about the following questions:
• Who gave you your name?
• Do you know why it was chosen to be your name?
• What do you especially like about your name?
• Do you have any nicknames that you like to be called?

Students then pair up and take about five minutes per student to share their answers to the four
questions with their partner. When both students have shared with one another, the whole group
comes back together and each student introduces their partner and shares some highlights of what
they learned about their partner’s name.

Than I would follow up the discussion with one more question:
• Can you remember a time when someone called you the wrong name or said your name incorrectly?
How did that feel and what did you do? show less

This book was very inspirational and I really enjoyed reading it. Mr. Lincoln is the Principal of the school and he is admired by almost everyone. He dresses very stylish and always spends time trying to connect with the students. However, Eugene causes a lot of trouble for Mr. Lincoln. He is a bully and never wants to listen. Eugene loves birds and Mr. Lincoln bonds with him and tries to help him through his behavior problems. When Eugene gets in trouble, he is crying and confesses to Mr. Lincoln that his old man has "real bad names he calls everyone who is different from them." Mr. Lincoln feels sorrow for Eugene that he was raised to think and treat others like that. I loved the plot of this book and felt that the story line was very show more relatable and important. It was engaging and I did not get bored while reading. It had a climax and a resolution. It was easy to connect to because I feel that everyone knows of a bully from sometime when they went to school. I also liked how Mr. Lincoln helped Eugene become a better person and show him that the color of one's skin should not make a difference. Also, I felt that the characters were really well-developed. Mr. Lincoln was an inspiring person and he seemed to have a great heart. The author also did a great job giving personality to each character and making them different in their own way. Finally, the illustrations were drawn very well and it made the book, in my opinion. The were drawn abstractly, but were very warm and made me really look at each page carefully. They were bright and even though there was problems within the book, they made me find happiness. The main message of this book was that no one is better than someone else, especially because of skin color. No one should be judged or viewed differently because of the way they were born and that is a lesson that everyone should be taught. It is especially relatable because racism still happens everyday and it needs to end. show less

This is a wonderful book that explores the relationship of a boy and his principal. This story provides hope in two different ways. First, Eugene is able to look beyond Mr. Lincoln's skin tone and connect with him. Secondly, the grandfather, who influenced Eugene's unacceptable ways, welcomed Mr. Lincoln with open arms. I found Eugene to be very realistic considering his culture and enjoyed watching him grow to be Mr. Lincoln's friend. I also enjoyed how Eugene influences his grandfather to like Mr. Lincoln since his grandfather was why he treated him poorly in the first place. Overall, the main idea of this piece is to show the difference compassion and patience can make in a person's live. While the other teachers wanted to give up on show more Eugene Mr. Lincoln focused on connecting with him as a person and helped him grow through their relationship. show less

I believe this book would a very powerful tool to use in almost any age level classroom. This book introduces the idea of race at a young age. Mr. Lincoln is an African American principal at a school where he is loved by everyone. There is one child named Eugene that is having a hard time at school with his behavior. Mr. Lincoln finds a way to channel this negative behavior into something positive with a bird atrium. Eugene and Mr. Lincoln start to spend a lot of time together and grow a relationship. Eugene's father isn't a fan of this so they start to separate. One day, Eugene is heard making negative racial comments. This is when Mr. Lincoln takes Eugene aside and describes that he loves all the birds no matter how they look and that show more is how we should love everyone. It is a very powerful tool to teach students about race and how it effects everyone around them. show less