“I should probably report this whole thing to Principal Darling,” he said. “Tell her that you guys pushed me into this box and then, well …”
He was about to say more—but he was stopped by a huge burst of shouts and claps from the crowd in the gym.
“The wrestling!” Mr. Biddle shouted. “I’m not too late!”
He ran out the door. Doc and Abby got up.
“So …” Abby said.
“Yeah,” Doc said.
They set the box upright.
“We better find Mom,” Abby said. “She was asking where you’ve been.”
“What should we tell her?” Doc asked.
“I don’t know. Studying history?”
Doc laughed. “She’ll never believe it.”
“I know. Fixing history?”
“But did we?” Doc asked. “I can’t tell if we fixed history or broke it.”
“I guess we’ll find out,” Abby said.
“Guess so.”
Doc turned off the light as they left the storage room. Abby made sure to shut the door behind them.
The room was quiet and dark. A streetlamp in the parking lot cast a faint yellow glow on the tall cardboard box.
Ten hours later, the sun began to rise. The library storage room slowly filled with light.
The cardboard box began to shake.
UN-TWISTING HISTORY
So, aside from the stuff I obviously made up—like Lincoln suddenly popping out of a cardboard box—how much of this book is based on real history?
A lot of it, actually. Abraham Lincoln really was born in a log cabin in Kentucky, and he really was so busy working on his family’s farm that he hardly ever went to school. And it’s true that he loved to read. “The things I want to know are in books,” twelve-year-old Abe once said. “My best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.”
As Lincoln told the kids in the school library, he didn’t get along with his father and left home to work on a riverboat on the Mississippi. This is where he saw enslaved African Americans for the first time and began thinking about how cruel and evil slavery was.
Settling in Illinois, he found work as a clerk in a general store. Once, realizing a customer had paid too much for something, Lincoln walked four miles to return the woman’s change. That’s when people started calling him “Honest Abe”—a nickname he hated, apparently.
He became a lawyer and, at the age of twenty-three, ran for a seat in the Illinois state legislature. He came in eighth. It was not the last election he’d lose. After losing a race for the US Senate in 1858, he told friends, “I feel just like a boy who stubbed his toe—too badly hurt to laugh, and too proud to cry.”
That’s classic Lincoln—he had a joke for every situation. As president, he was famous for starting meetings with funny stories, puns, or riddles. This annoyed some people, but it was Lincoln’s way of dealing with the incredible stress of his job. The jokes I included in this book are all jokes Lincoln really told.
If you didn’t think they were very funny, you’re not alone. Mary Lincoln was not a fan of her husband’s gags.
Lincoln really did love to play handball in an alley near his law office in Springfield, and yes, his horse truly was named Old Bob. Anyone who’s seen photos of Lincoln knows he really did wear a tall, stovepipe hat. At six-foot-four, he’s the tallest president in American history, so he already stood out in a crowd. But he liked really standing out, which is part of the reason he wore the tall hat. Also, he really did keep papers and notes in the lining of his hat. The kids of Springfield knew this and had fun figuring out ways to knock Lincoln’s hat off.
The beard story is totally true. Historians have found the full text of Grace Bedell’s letter to Lincoln in which she suggests the beard, and there are newspaper stories about Lincoln meeting Grace on his way to Washington, DC.
Who came up with the design of Lincoln’s distinctive beard? The most likely answer is William de Fleurville, an immigrant from Haiti who owned several businesses, including a barbershop, in Springfield. Fleurville sometimes hired Lincoln to do legal work, and Lincoln went to Fleurville’s shop for shaves and haircuts. They were friends for over twenty years. So when Lincoln decided to start growing a beard, it’s only logical that Fleurville would have been involved.
WILLIAM DE FLEURVILLE
In the scene with Abby and Doc in the family living room, Mr. Douglass gives a very quick summary of the Civil War. This was by far the deadliest war in American history and way too big and complicated to explain here. I’m hoping you’ll be curious enough to find out more. Anyway, just to finish the story … Lincoln was reelected in 1864. In April 1865, the United States finally defeated the Confederacy. More than six hundred thousand soldiers had died in the Civil War. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution banned slavery in the United States.
On the evening of April 14, 1865, Abraham and Mary Lincoln went to a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. During the show, an actor named John Wilkes Booth, who was bitter about the South’s defeat, sneaked up behind Lincoln and shot him. Abraham Lincoln died early the next morning. His body was taken back to Springfield, Illinois, where friends built him a tomb and monument that you can still visit today.
You can—and should—form your own opinions. But I guess you can tell I’m a big Abraham Lincoln fan. I’d argue that he had the hardest job of any president in the history of the United States. When historians rank the best presidents, they usually put Lincoln number one, and I totally agree.
He was also never, ever boring.
Oh, and one more thing. Abraham Lincoln really is in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Look it up.
OH NO! ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS RIGHT. FAMOUS FOLKS FROM HISTORY KNOW THEY DON’T HAVE TO DO THE SAME OLD THING ANYMORE—AND EVERYTHING IS TWISTING OUT OF CONTROL!
FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE NEXT TIME TWISTERS ADVENTURE:
AVAILABLE NOW
CREDITS
STEVE SHEINKIN, Author
NEIL SWAAB, Illustrator / Designer
CONNIE HSU, Executive Editor
SIMON BOUGHTON, Publisher
ELIZABETH CLARK, Art Director
TOM NAU, Director of Production
JILL FRESHNEY, Senior Executive Managing Editor
MEGAN ABBATE, Editorial Assistant
OH NO! NOW FAMOUS FOLKS FROM HISTORY KNOW THEY DON’T HAVE TO DO THE SAME OLD THING ANYMORE—AND EVERYTHING IS TWISTING OUT OF CONTROL!
FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE NEXT TIME TWISTERS ADVENTURE.
COMING FALL 2018!
ALSO BY STEVE SHEINKIN
KING GEORGE: WHAT WAS HIS PROBLEM?
TWO MISERABLE PRESIDENTS
WHICH WAY TO THE WILD WEST?
THE NOTORIOUS BENEDICT ARNOLD: A TRUE STORY OF ADVENTURE, HEROISM & TREACHERY
BOMB: THE RACE TO BUILD—AND STEAL—THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS WEAPON
THE PORT CHICAGO 50: DISASTER, MUTINY, AND THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
MOST DANGEROUS: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE VIETNAM WAR
UNDEFEATED: JIM THORPE AND THE CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM
About the Author
Steve Sheinkin is the award-winning author of fast-paced, cinematic nonfiction histories for young readers. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights, was a National Book Award finalist and received the 2014 Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Nonfiction. The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery, won both the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award and the YALSA award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults. Bomb: The Race to Build-and Steal-the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon was a Newbery Honor Book, a National Book Award Finalist, and winner of the Sibert Award and YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults. Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War was a National Book Award finalist, a YALSA Excellence in Nonf
iction Award winner, and a Boston Globe/Horn Book Nonfiction Award winner. Sheinkin lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, with his wife and two children. You can sign up for author updates here.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Un-Twisting History
Credits
Also by Steve Sheinkin
About the Author
Copyright
Text copyright © 2018 by Steve Sheinkin
Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Neil Swaab
Published by Roaring Brook Press
Roaring Brook Press is a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
mackids.com
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sheinkin, Steve, author. | Swaab, Neil, illustrator.
Title: Abraham Lincoln, pro wrestler / Steve Sheinkin ; Illustrated by Neil Swaab.
Description: First edition. | New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2018. | Series: Time Twisters | Summary: Abby and her stepbrother, Doc, must persuade Abraham Lincoln to play his part in history after one too many comments about history being boring cause him to go on strike. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017005891 (print) | eISBN 9781250148926
Subjects: LCSH: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865—Fiction. | History—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Stepfamilies—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S512 (ebook) | LCC PZ7.1.S512 Abr 2018 (print) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017005891
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First edition, 2018