The Gettyburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

 

Lincoln, A. (1995) The Gettysburg address. Illustrated by Michael McCurdy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 

"That this nation, under God shall have a new birth of freedom-

 and that government of the people, by the people,

for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 

- Abraham Lincoln

The Gettysburg Address is a picture book that tells what Abraham Lincoln said while giving the Gettysburg Address at the burial ground of the soldiers that were killed while fighting the battle of Gettysburg. In just 272 words Abraham Lincoln gave the battle a higher meaning. "These men died, to make Americans live up to their own beliefs- the belief in human equality, in the possibility of self-government." 

The illustrations in this book are in all black and white they allow the readers to see the faces of the people clearer. The illustrations also use think dark lines and shading to show emotion and the importance of the words written on each page. 

There are not individual characters in the book with an exception of Abraham Lincoln. The people in the illustrations are not named but have faces to make the audience seem more realistic. The setting of the book takes place on the battle field of Gettysburg where a portion was marked off to become a grave yard. 

The Gettysburg Address is considered a picture book because it contains mostly pictures and the pictures help to set the mood, and they allow people to better understand the severity of the situation. 

This book would be good to read while studying the Gettysburg Address or President Lincoln because it highlights a very important time in his life, and in our country's history. This book has very vivid pictures that students would enjoy and would allow them to develop their own thoughts about the Gettysburg Address. Students of all ages could read this book younger students to get an idea of what the Gettysburg Address was and older students to remind them what they had learned in the past about the Gettysburg Address.

An activity that can be used with this book can be found at 

http://www.alincolnlearning.us/Gettysburgteacher.html

This link will take you to a website with all different activities that can be done with the Gettysburg Address. 

This site has a vocabulary section, pictures, virtual tours and other interesting facts the students would like to see.  

Important Questions: 

- How do you think the people in the audience felt while listing to Abraham Lincoln? 

- Why would Abraham Lincoln feel so strongly about the soldiers in the US Army? 

- If many people died  today in a fight how could we remember them?