Honey The dog who saved Abe Lincoln

Carrying a sack of ground corn home from the mill, seven-year-old Abe Lincoln is walking through the woods when he finds a dog with a broken leg. He makes a splint, leads the dog home, and names him Honey. The next time Abe takes corn to the mill, he and Honey explore a cavern and the boy gets stuck. When he doesn't return to collect the corn meal, the townsfolk gather to look for him. Honey leads them into the cavern, where the miller pulls the child out of a crevice. Safe again, Abe reflects that Honey has paid him back. An author's note clarifies that the story was recorded by a journalist who interviewed Lincoln's childhood friend in the late 1800s. Since the interviews took place some 80 years after the events and were published 25 years later, it's hard to separate fact from fiction, but Swanson's story reads aloud well. Groenink's appealing digital illustrations portray young Abe and Honey within idyllic Kentucky landscapes and haunting, torch-lit cavern scenes. An enjoyable, Lincoln-themed picture book.--Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2019 Booklist

PreS-Gr 3--This picture book reads like a storytime fable but is based on the actual memories of Lincoln's childhood friend, Austin Gollaher. When a young Lincoln rescued a dog with a broken leg, the two quickly become inseparable. Consequently, when Lincoln became stuck in a cave, Honey raced back to town to get help. The tale ends with Lincoln and Honey continuing their adventures together, day after day, in Knob Creek, KY. Back matter includes a time line of Lincoln's life, focusing heavily on his relationships with animals, and an author's note in which Swanson addresses her sources and the relative truth of the tale. This will read aloud nicely at preschool storytimes and would make a great addition to an early elementary discussion of Lincoln, showing him as a boy their own age with a soft spot for animals. VERDICT Not essential, but a sweet piece of narrative nonfiction. Consider where units on Abraham Lincoln exhaust current resources or for a biography storytime.--Taylor Worley, Springfield Public Library, OR

A slice of Abraham Lincoln's childhood life is explored through a fictionalized anecdote about his dog Honey.When 7-year-old Abe rescues a golden-brown dog with a broken leg, he takes the pup home to the Lincolns' cabin in Knob Creek, Kentucky. Honey follows Abe everywhere, including trailing after his owner into a deep cave. When Abe gets stuck between rocks, Honey goes for help and leads a search party back to the trapped boy for a dramatic rescue. The source for this story was a book incorporating the memories of Abe's boyhood friend, explained in an author's note. The well-paced text includes invented dialogue attributed to Abe and his parents. Abe's older sister, Sarah, is not mentioned in the text and is shown in the illustrations as a little girl younger than Abe. All the characters present white save for one black man in the rescue crew. An oversized format and multiple double-page spreads provide plenty of space for cartoon-style illustrations of the Lincoln cabin, the surrounding countryside, and the spooky cave where Abe was trapped. This story focuses on the incident in the cave and Abe's rescue; a more complete look at Lincoln's life is included in an appended timeline and the author's note, both of which include references to Lincoln's kindness to animals and to other pets he owned.This heartwarming story of a boy and his beloved dog opens the door for further study of our 16th president. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.