From: Tattercoat at aol.com <Tattercoat>
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 17:12:45 EDT

I???ve been reading this month???s discussion with interest. As a reviewer and an academic who teaches???among other subjects???evaluation of children???s literature, I was startled by some of the comments about Cohn and Schmidt???s ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Yes, accuracy is critically important in nonfiction. And I have criticized books for serious flaws in research, pervasive errors in reporting viewpoint as fact and the use of invented dialog that is not clearly labeled as such. That said, I???d be hard put to reject an otherwise wonderful book for a small error or point of disagreement--like the choice of one three letter word.

The question is just how small a nit does one pick? When does this serve the development of quality literature for children and when does it get in the way a good book reaching its audience?

We all know books that aren???t as perfect as we???d like them to be. Nina Lindsay wrote an excellent article on this ("If Only???! A Librarian Looks at How Even Great Books Fall Short," School Library Journal, July 2001) in which she points out problems with???among others--the 2001 Caldecott Medallist SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT.

Since ABRAHAM LINCOLN is on a high interest topic and is written by two people whose work I know and trust, I ordered it. Now I am looking forward to its arrival so I can see for myself just how the authors handled their subject.

Thanks to all for the good discussion.

Carolyn Lehman Humboldt State University
Received on Fri 19 Apr 2002 04:12:45 PM CDT