Dan Santow

Santow shows the triumphs and tragedies of Mary Todd Lincoln’s life. This book is strong on details and does well in relating both the negative and positives of Mary Todd Lincoln’s behavior with an even hand and in a pleasant, story-telling type style. Young adult readers who want to learn more about this first lady will enjoy it. There is at least one inaccuracy, however. Santow claims Booth made a certain statement when he jumped to the stage after shooting Lincoln, but doesn’t state that witnesses disagreed on what he said. Along with the main text, each page has an insert that gives more details on a topic related to the main text, and there are photos and drawings from the time period illustrating the text. These inserts can help to add to a young adult’s understanding of the text, but they also can be distracting and break up the flow of the main text. It’s a good resource for students with an interest in Mrs. Lincoln or who are using it as a resource for a report.… (más)