Sheinkin, Steve. Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn’t Tell You About the Civil War. Roaring Brook Press, 2008.
Steve Sheinkin was a textbook writer who defected from the trade to write short, easy-to-read histories that included all the quotes and stories he had to leave out of the textbooks he wrote. He tells moving and sometimes humorous stories, such as those of cross-dressing women soldiers and of a guy in the crowd at the Gettysburg Address who told Lincoln to put on his specs, which he did with a quip. Sheinkin’s research comes from standard, previously published, histories and memoirs. As a result, many of the stories are more familiar than his title suggests. That said, a 200-page romp through the Civil War was an entertaining way to spend an evening. Other readers who paid more attention than I did have pointed out some distressing misspellings of names and a failure to always assess the credibility of his sources. That is the problem with good stories—they tend to be embellished. 3.5 stars. ( )

My 11-year-old Civil War buff loved this book, but while Sheinkin did a good job with a very large task and provided a bit of the personalities and backgrounds of the major players, it felt a bit like a slog to me. It's possible I've just read too much about the Civil War in the past year. It did cause me to reflect on the differences in how I was taught about the war in junior high in Ohio then in high school in Virginia. ( )

Once upon a time, there was a stupid smart girl. That is, she did really well on all those "How Smart Are You?" tests; but she often had trouble in school, because she couldn't learn anything unless she was genuinely interested in it.

Eventually, she dropped out and wandered around until she signed with a literary agent, because it turns out that learning about stuff you're really interested in can be a paying proposition if you promise to write a book about it afterwards.

But she felt a little distressed by all the gaps in her education. Her knowledge of American history was especially spotty. She saw no way around this, though, because she simply could not talk herself into being interested in her own country -- not when places like England and Japan were so much cooler.

Meanwhile, a writer named Steve Sheinkin was making a successful writing career for himself. Like our stupid smart girl, he did a lot of research. Unlike her, he thought American history was pretty nifty. So he was hired to write school textbooks on the subject.

There was a catch, though. He had to leave out all the cool stuff he found in the course of his research. All the interesting, very human stories that made history come alive had no place in textbooks. Otherwise kids might get excited and engaged and maybe even learn something.

So Mr. Sheinkin dutifully wrote boring textbooks. But he held on to the fascinating anecdotes he kept finding. They piled up all around him until his family started to complain. (Tripping over an anecdote in the middle of the night can be very painful -- almost as bad as stepping on a Lego brick barefoot.)

He realized he had to do something with his treasures. But what?

Finally, he got the idea of writing history books that people didn't have to read. They just could if they wanted to.

"But why would we want to read about American history?" the stupid-smart girl and others like her demanded.

"Because...coolness?" Mr. Sheinkin suggested.

"Prove it," they said.

"Okay," Mr. Sheinkin said.

And he did.

He told stories of female Confederate spies who hid coded messages in their long hair, and slaves with names like Dangerfield Newby who fought for freedom.

He told of girls who dashed across battlefields unharmed though their dresses were sliced through by bullets, and men whose ridiculous haircuts made their fellow soldiers laugh even in battle.

He told of women leading bread riots in the South, and men leading race riots in the North.

He told of white soldiers who pinned their names and home addresses to the backs of their coats before major battles so their families could be notified of their fates, and black soldiers who kept the American flag flying high even when they were wounded by gunfire.

And the stupid-smart girl learned that history, even American history, is only boring when the good bits are left out. And she even managed to learn a little about it, though it would never be her favorite subject.

And they all lived happily ever after. (Except all those Civil War spies and soldiers and civilians, who eventually died.) ( )

I really enjoyed Sheinkin's first history book, King George: What was his problem? I liked the humor, the narrative style of the, er, narrative, the interesting tidbits of information, all formed into one cohesive whole. The cartoon-style drawings were ok, take 'em or leave 'em. This book is more of the same – a light sprinkling of humor, plenty of well-told historical facts, and a good narrative flow.

But, personally, I just didn't like it. For some reason, the style seems too...frivolous for the Civil War. Possibly because the American Revolution is older history while American society is still dealing with economic and social issues dating back to the Civil War.

But it's a well-researched, excellently designed, and intriguing account of the Civil War for the middle grade reader.

Verdict: Hand this one to middle grade readers who are being forced to research the Civil War and they may discover a new interest in history; this is, after all, "Everything your schoolbooks didn't tell you about the Civil War." Recommended.

ISBN: 1596433205; Published January 2008 by Roaring Brook; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library