Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the United States to wear a beard. What gave him the idea to grow whiskers may have been a letter he received from an eleven-year-old girl named Grace Bedell. Charmingly told by Karen B. Winnick and illustrated with rich oil paintings that capture the look and feel of nineteenth-century America, here is the true story of the girl whose letter helped to make Abraham Lincoln's face one of the most famous in American history.
For use in schools and libraries only. Twelve-year-old Grace Bedell, of Westfield, New York, sees a picture of the campaigning Abraham Lincoln and writes the president-to-be to tell him that a beard might improve his appearance
Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the United States to wear a beard. What gave him the idea to grow whiskers may have been a letter he received from an eleven-year-old girl named Grace Bedell. Charmingly told by Karen B. Winnick and illustrated with rich oil paintings that capture the look and feel of nineteenth-century America, here is the true story of the girl whose letter helped to make Abraham Lincoln's face one of the most famous in American history.
A fresh and heartwarming story about Abraham Lincoln and the young girl who inspired his signature beard. Abraham Lincoln is one of the most recognizable people, let alone presidents, in the history of the United States. Perhaps it's because his face can be seen everywhere from the $5 bill in your wallet and the penny in your pocket to national monuments across the country. Or maybe it's simply because of his signature beard. Could you ever picture Lincoln without it? I bet you would never guess that there is one little girl in particular to thank for Lincoln's beard.LINCOLN AND GRACE is the story of Grace Bedell--the eleven-year-old who got a President to listen to her advice. In addition to learning the fascinating true story behind Lincoln's beard, children will love it because it shows that one voice--even one as small as their own--can matter.
Can the advice of an eleven-year-old girl help get Abraham Lincoln elected president? As the election of 1860 nears, eleven-year-old Grace and her family are working hard to help Abraham Lincoln win. After seeing his image on a poster, Grace decides to write to him and suggest that growing a beard might win him more votes. Much to her surprise, Lincoln answers her letter, and she becomes a neighborhood celebrity. When the president-elect’s victory train passes through on its way to Washington, DC, Mr. Lincoln singles Grace out as the girl who gave him good advice. Based on true events, this story will charm young readers of historical fiction.
Beards—they’re all the rage these days. Take a look around: from hip urbanites to rustic outdoorsmen, well-groomed metrosexuals to post-season hockey players, facial hair is everywhere. The New York Times traces this hairy trend to Big Apple hipsters circa 2005 and reports that today some New Yorkers pay thousands of dollars for facial hair transplants to disguise patchy, juvenile beards. And in 2014, blogger Nicki Daniels excoriated bearded hipsters for turning a symbol of manliness and power into a flimsy fashion statement. The beard, she said, has turned into the padded bra of masculinity. Of Beards and Men makes the case that today’s bearded renaissance is part of a centuries-long cycle in which facial hairstyles have varied in response to changing ideals of masculinity. Christopher Oldstone-Moore explains that the clean-shaven face has been the default style throughout Western history—see Alexander the Great’s beardless face, for example, as the Greek heroic ideal. But the primacy of razors has been challenged over the years by four great bearded movements, beginning with Hadrian in the second century and stretching to today’s bristled resurgence. The clean-shaven face today, Oldstone-Moore says, has come to signify a virtuous and sociable man, whereas the beard marks someone as self-reliant and unconventional. History, then, has established specific meanings for facial hair, which both inspire and constrain a man’s choices in how he presents himself to the world. This fascinating and erudite history of facial hair cracks the masculine hair code, shedding light on the choices men make as they shape the hair on their faces. Oldstone-Moore adeptly lays to rest common misperceptions about beards and vividly illustrates the connection between grooming, identity, culture, and masculinity. To a surprising degree, we find, the history of men is written on their faces.
It is Illinois in the 1830s, and Abraham Lincoln is an ambitious—if charmingly awkward—young circuit lawyer and state legislator. Among his friends and political colleagues are Joshua Speed, William Herndon, Stephen Douglas, and many others who have come to the exploding frontier town of Springfield to find their futures. One of these men is poet Cage Weatherby. Cage both admires and clashes with Lincoln, questioning his cautious stance on slavery. But he stays by Lincoln's side, even as Lincoln slips back and forth between high spirits and soul-hollowing sadness and depression, and even as he recovers from a disastrous courtship to marry the beautiful, capricious, politically savvy Mary Todd. Mary will bring stability to Lincoln's life, but she will also trigger a conflict that sends the two men on very different paths into the future.
To others, he was the American President, one of the most powerful men in the world, presiding over one of the most horrific wars in history. But to Julia Taft, he was Tad Lincoln's father. Invited to the White House to watch over her two brothers, who were playmates of the Lincolns' sons, Julia had an intimate perspective on the First Family's home life, which she describes with charm and candor in this book. A rare look behind the public facade of the great man, Julia's affectionate account of the Lincolns at home is rich with examples of the humor and love that held the family together and that helped the President endure the pressures of governing a nation divided. ø Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln often expressed their regret at not having a daughter of their own. Julia Taft thus enjoyed a special place in their lives, and her memoir reveals the warmth she elicited from the couple. She speaks of her initial fear of Lincoln?the towering, rough-and-tumble backwoodsman?who won her over with teasing, and of her relationship with Mary, who was never really accepted into Washington social life and took particular comfort in Julia's presence. ø A unique glimpse into the social life of the Lincoln White House, Julia Taft Bayne's memoir shows us the human drama played out daily behind the great pageant of history.
