Lincoln's Legacy (Blast to the Past Series #1)

by Stacia Deutsch, Rhody Cohon, David Wenzel (Illustrator)

Overview

Third graders travel through time to keep history on track!
Abigail loves Mondays, and so does the rest of class 305. That's the day Mr. Caruthers asks them cool questions about history. Today Mr. C asks, "What if Abraham Lincoln never freed the slaves?" Abigail and her friends are ready to put their thinking caps on. But this time Mr. C wants them to do more than put their heads together-he wants them to travel back in time!
Turns out the "What If?" questions are real, and Mr. C has just come back from a visit to the past. He needs their help because it looks like President Lincoln might quit and never free the slaves! With a time-travel gadget and only two hours to spare, Abigail and her friends are going back to the past. But even though time traveling isn't hard, convincing Abraham Lincoln not to give up isn't going to be easy....
With a dollop of The Magic Tree House, a dash of Back to the Future, and pinch of Bill&Ted's Excellent Adventure, Blast to the Past is a recipe for fun!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442498716
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	09/10/2013
Series:	Blast to the Past Series , #1
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
Lexile:	480L (what's this?)
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Stacia Deutsch is the author of more than fifty children’s books, including the eight-book, award-winning chapter book series Blast to the Past. She has also written the tween novel Mean Ghouls as well as books for the Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew and The Boxcar Children series. Stacia has been on the New York Times bestseller list for the novelizations of the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Smurfs movies. For new releases and school visit information visit StaciaDeutsch.com.
Rhody Cohon does all the research and editing for the Blast to the Past series. She has a master’s degree in computer engineering. Rhody lives with her family in Tuscon, Arizona.

Read an Excerpt

Lincoln’s Legacy

Every Monday, Mr. Caruthers came to class late.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, he’d be waiting in the classroom before the bell rang. But never on Monday. There was something strange about Mondays.

And today was Monday.

When I entered the classroom, Maxine Wilson was already sitting at her table.

“Hey, Abigail,” she greeted me. I always liked Maxine. We’d known each other since kindergarten.

“Are you ready?” I asked her.

“I’m always ready on Mondays.” Maxine had a stopwatch.

The school bell was the signal.

Brrring.

Maxine pressed the little black button on her watch. “Go!” she shouted, and we all rushed to our seats.

Everyone sat silently, staring at the classroom door. No one dared look away. Not even for a second.

Maxine kept track of the time. “Four minutes, forty-nine seconds,” she announced.

The whole class always chanted the last ten seconds out loud together: “Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.” The door swung open.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Mr. Caruthers apologized as he entered the classroom. We waited patiently while Mr. Caruthers straightened his crumpled suit jacket. Retied his bow tie. Combed his hair. And finally, pushed up his glasses.

Every Monday, Mr. Caruthers was late. Every Monday, he was wrinkled and messy. But it didn’t matter to us, the third-grade kids in classroom 305. Monday was our favorite day of the week. And Mr. Caruthers was our favorite teacher.

“Abigail,” Jacob whispered, leaning over to me. “What do you think his question will be today?”

I shrugged and said softly, “I have no idea.”

Jacob turned to ask his brother Zack the same thing. Jacob and Zack were twins. They lived next door to me. And they were my table partners. Zack said he didn’t know either. A new kid named Roberto Rodriguez also sat at our table. But he didn’t talk much, so Jacob didn’t bother to ask him.

Mr. C finished straightening his clothes and leaned back on the edge of his desk. He was too cool to sit in a chair like other teachers.

“What if,” he began, and then paused. I sat up a little straighter. Every Monday, Mr. Caruthers asked us a new “what if” question. So far, my favorite questions were “What if Thomas Edison had quit and never invented the lightbulb?” and “What if Clara Barton had quit and never started the American Red Cross?”

I loved thinking up answers to Mr. C’s questions. And I couldn’t wait for this one.

Mr. C leaned back farther on his desk and finished his question. “What if Abraham Lincoln quit and never issued the Emancipation Proclamation?”

My hand shot up in the air. I didn’t even wait for him to call on me. “What’s the Emancipation Proclamation?” I blurted out. “Why’s it so important?”

“Be patient, Abigail,” Mr. Caruthers said slowly. “All your questions will be answered in good time.”

“But—,” I began. Mr. Caruthers looked at me over the top of his glasses. I put my hand down. It’s really hard to wait when you are as curious as I am.

“Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States,” Mr. Caruthers began. He told us that Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809. He was a lawyer. His wife’s name was Mary Todd. And in 1860 he was elected president.

I really wanted to raise my hand again. He hadn’t gotten to the Emancipation Proclamation part of the story yet. Struggling to keep quiet, I tucked my fingers under my legs and sat on them.

Mr. C continued telling Abraham Lincoln’s story. “When Abraham Lincoln became president, there were only thirty-four states, not fifty like we have today. There were twenty-three states in the North, and eleven states in the South.”

Editorial Reviews

A sprightly time travel tale, the inaugural novel in the Blast to the Past series opens as third-grade teacher Mr. Caruthers asks his students his weekly "What if?" question. After posing his latest hypothetical ("What if Abraham Lincoln quit and never issued the Emancipation Proclamation?"), the teacher asks a quartet of kids to meet him in the classroom after school. There, he tells chatty, affable narrator Abigail, twins Jacob and Zack, as well as Bo, a history-savvy new student, that he earlier that morning had traveled back to Washington, D.C., in 1862 to convince Abraham Lincoln not to go through with his plan to quit the presidency. Since Mr. Caruthers's efforts had failed, he asks the four youngsters to try to dissuade Lincoln from resigning and gives them his hand-held computer, programmed to deliver them to the capital city on the very day that Lincoln is to issue the Proclamation-if he stays in the job. Though there may be little suspense as to the story's outcome and some hokey twists, the vivid descriptions of Civil War-era Washington and some diverting plot twists (including the students' decision to whisk the war-weary president to present-day Washington to show him the Lincoln Memorial) make for engaging reading. With its relatively short length, full-page art and accessible writing, this is a good choice for reluctant readers. Ages 7-10. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

For Abigail, Monday mornings are great. She loves school and in particular having Mr. Caruthers as her third grade teacher. Mr. C. makes learning fun and almost always races into class on the first day of the school week a little late and very rumpled. One day Mr. C. starts off his history lesson with an interesting question for the class: "What if Abraham Lincoln quit and never issued the Emancipation Proclamation?" After the class discussion Mr. C. asks Abigail and three of her classmates, Zack, Jacob, and Bo to join him after school. When they meet, Mr. C. reveals an amazing fact; he can travel in time and that very morning he tried and failed to convince President Lincoln not to quit. Now, it is up to Abigail and her classmates to go back in time and get President Lincoln to snap out of his doldrums long enough to free the slaves. Armed only with their handheld time travel computer and their wits these plucky third graders set out to keep history flowing in the right direction. Will they be able to convince President Lincoln to stay the course? Can they make sure that freedom reigns in the United States? Will they be able to avert a catastrophic shift in the space time continuum? These and other questions will be answered in this fast paced and highly readable time travel tale. Lincoln's Legacy kicks off a new series of time travel books that, if this publication is a representative sample, should tickle the fancy of younger readers. Combining historical accuracy, sturdy dialog, and just enough humor, Lincoln's Legacy is a quick read that should entertain as well as inform its audience. Reviewer: Greg M. Romaneck

Children's Literature - Greg M. Romaneck