Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War
March 11, 2019
Burleigh tells the story of the poet and of the president he so admired, sprinkling quotes from Whitman and lines of his poetry throughout: “Walt saw everything: the tall and lanky body, the dark complexion, the ‘wrinkled and canny-looking’ face.” Passages explore the invisible threads connecting the two men, including their compassion for Civil War soldiers, antipathy of slavery, and abiding love for their wounded nation. Burleigh also dramatizes the moment when, overcome with emotion after Lincoln’s assassination, Whitman creates the well-known poem: “O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done.” Hundley’s striking art blends naturalistic portraiture with contrasting shadowy blues and fiery oranges and renders Lincoln as giantlike in stature, visually emblematizing the president’s enormity of character and influence. An emotionally and historically resonant homage to two kindred spirits. Ages 10–up.
February 15, 2019
Burleigh and Hundley focus on the role that the Civil War--and specifically President Abraham Lincoln--played in the life of American poet Walt Whitman.This is an ambitious, beautiful, bleak, and imperfect piece of historical fiction. Whitman was so affected by the strife in his politically divided country that he relocated from his home in New York to Washington to serve as a nurse to young, injured Union soldiers. The book details Whitman's roles as a caregiver and engaged city resident but always through the context of his appreciation for the president. While imagining Whitman's time in Washington, author Burleigh supposes several moments in which the lives of the men intersect. As Burleigh explains in his author's note, these moments are pulled from Whitman's own writings and are considered valid by historians, but they are given extra emotional weight in this writing. Hundley's illustrations mirror the tone of the book impeccably, with the harsh blacks, dusty sepia, and brownish reds capturing the weight and cruelty of war. The illustrations capture a hyper-realistic Lincoln, imagining him larger than life. The added use of Whitman's poetry throughout the text lends eloquence, and the backmatter (biographies, timeline, selected poems, endnotes, index) is weighty. Overall, the book is bold and aspirational, but its admirers will likely be educators instead of children. A worthy supporting player in a curriculum but not the star of the show. (Historical fiction. 8-12)
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April 15, 2019
Grades 4-8 Although best remembered as America's poet and the author of Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman spent much time during the Civil War working as an unpaid friend and nurse to wounded soldiers in Washington hospitals. Concentrating on the war years, Burleigh emphasizes the shared perspectives of Whitman and Lincoln on patriotism, slavery, and war. Although the two never formally met, Whitman clearly admired Lincoln and his efforts to preserve a unified U.S. Utilizing a succinct yet lyrical style, Burleigh quotes frequently from Whitman's poetry, providing a good sense of this nineteenth-century icon. Hundley's mixed-media artwork favors black, white, and sepia (consistent with period photos), embellished with color washes. Many spreads employ both realistic and fantasy elements, including a depiction of Lincoln's log cabin with a man's oversize arms and legs bursting through windows and doors. Generous back matter includes information on Whitman and Lincoln, a Civil War chronology, and two Whitman poems composed following Lincoln's death: O Captain! My Captain! and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. Carefully researched and beautifully rendered.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)