Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship

by Nikki Giovanni, Bryan Collier (Illustrator)

Overview

Poet Nikki Giovanni and illustrator Byran Collier, the acclaimed team behind Rosa, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award and a Caldecott Honor book, join forces once more to portray this historic friendship at a unique moment in time.

Our 16th president is known for many things: He delivered the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address. He was tall and skinny and notoriously stern-looking. And he also had some very strong ideas about abolishing slavery, ideas which brought him into close contact with another very visible public figure: Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born a slave but escaped in 1838 and became one of the central figures in the American abolitionist movement.

Lincoln and Douglass offers a glimpse into the unusual friendship between two great American leaders. At a time when racial tensions were high and racial equality was not yet established, they formed a strong bond over shared ideals and worked alongside each other for a common goal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250018694
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	01/08/2013
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	6 - 11 Years

About the Author

Nikki Giovanni wrote many books of poetry for children and adults, including Rosa, a Caldecott Honor book, Lincoln and Douglass, The Genie in the Jar, and Ego-tripping and Other Poems for Young People. Giovanni called herself, "a Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English." She was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Lincoln Heights, an all-black suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. She studied at Fisk University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. She published her first book of poetry, Black Feeling Black Talk, in 1968, and since then became one of America’s most widely read poets. Oprah Winfrey named her as one of her twenty-five “Living Legends.” Her autobiography Gemini was a finalist for the National Book Award, and several of her books received NAACP Image Awards. She received twenty-five honorary degrees, and numerous other distinctions, including being named Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle Magazine, The Ladies Home Journal and Ebony, the first recipient of the Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award, and the Langston Hughes Medal for poetry. Nikki Giovanni lived in Christiansburg, Virginia, where she was a professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. She died in 2024 at the age of 81.

Bryan Collier is a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winner for numerous children's books, including Rosa, Uptown, and Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When he's not painting, he spends his time visiting schools and encouraging young artists and readers. Bryan lives in New York with his wife and daughter.

Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions

1. Read the author's note. Do you think people act out of fear or do you, like Nikki Giovanni, agree that people act out of respect? Give examples that explain your answer.

2. What topic did Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd, disagree on? How do you think this might have affected their family life?

3. How does the author play with time in the book? Why do you think she made that choice? What are we able to learn because of the change?

4. Why did Lincoln walk five miles back to the store? What does this act show us about his personality?

5. Douglass dreamed of setting sail on the ships he worked on in Baltimore. Why? What do you dream about for your own future?

6. What are some things you do that are similar to Lincoln's and Douglass's activities? What does it mean to "better themselves"? How can you better yourself?

7. What do you think Lincoln saw in New Orleans that opened his eyes? Why do you think the illustrator added the faces to the trees?

8. Lincoln and Douglass's friendship bloomed based on what three important things? What three characteristics do you want in a friend? How can our friendships change us as people?

9. Describe John Brown's plan in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. How did the expansion of slavery make it hard for everyday northern farmers to make a living?

10. Explain how the South knew "there would be no compromise on the issue of slavery" if Lincoln was elected. How did this turn out to be true? What resulted?

11. Why was there a misunderstanding at the inaugural reception? What did Douglass refuse to do? Would you refuse the same injustice?

12. Which illustration in the book is your favorite? Why? Why do you think Bryan Collier used the palette of colors that he did? Why do you think the page depicting the Civil War was created without any words?
13. Study the timeline of Lincoln's and Douglass's lives. What is the most interesting fact that you learned from this page? Create a timeline of one of your most important friendships.

Editorial Reviews

"Clear, accessible storytelling...the story of two powerful men who shaped the course of the United States, but also a brief history of the war that raged while they forged a fast but deep friendship."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

A dramatic double-page spread of the Emancipation Proclamation fast-forwards to a March evening in 1865 at the White House, where President and Mrs. Lincoln are hosting an inaugural ball and to which Frederick Douglass is an invited guest. Giovanni then goes back in time to Douglass's and Lincoln's childhoods, comparing and contrasting. It's then back to the ball via Harpers Ferry and the Civil War. The text, already disjointed, even devotes two pages to John Brown and Mary Ellen Pleasant (who helped raise money for Brown), further fracturing the narrative. Collier's large paintings are dramatic, particularly one of soldiers in grey fighting soldiers in blue and another of a slave looking out from the divided pieces of an American flag. Unfortunately, both Lincoln and Douglass are depicted with oddly shaped faces and strange hairdos, which often resemble toupées. The stiff dialogue is unsourced by any notes. It's the season for Lincolnalia, but this team, who collaborated successfully on Rosa (2005), fail to present a focused work that will be meaningful to children. (timeline) (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews

When a picture book wins a Caldecott Honor Medal, it takes a skilled narrator to capture the story’s words AND its illustrations. Jerry Dixon’s gentle, intimate presentation welcomes the listener to Henry "Box" Brown's life. One can only be impressed by Henry’s character as he experiences the gruesome existence of a slave during the mid-1800s. Nothing can ameliorate his pain as his family is torn apart, and nothing can deter him from inflicting injury to himself in order to initiate his unusual plan. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2009 - AudioFile