MY LIFE WITH THE LINCOLNS

Gayle Brandeis mixes history of the 1860s with that of the 1960s through the imaginative mind of sixth-grader Mina Edelman. She becomes convinced that her family is the reincarnation of the Lincolns when she notices that her dad, Albert Baruch Edleman, has initials that spell ABE. Although her voice sounds a little old for 12-year-old Mina, Emily Card is a credible narrator as the story piles up coincidences to support Mina’s conclusion that the Edlemans really are the Lincolns. Setting the story in Illinois—“Land of Lincoln”—and drawing connections between the Civil War, the War in Vietnam, and the Civil Rights Movement provide an interesting way to connect two eras of American history. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2010]