Jan Jacobi, author of Young Lincoln, to hold book signing At Lincoln’s New Salem Historical Site on Saturday, June 9

[June 07, 2018] 

Author Jan Jacobi will be signing his young adult historical fiction work, Young Lincoln, at Lincoln’s New Salem Historical Site, 15588 History Lane, Petersburg, IL 62675. The event is set for Saturday, June 9 from 9 a.m. to noon. Admission is free and open to the public.

America’s greatest president, that marble icon Abraham Lincoln, comes alive as a youth and young man in Young Lincoln. Forty-five-year classroom veteran, Jan Jacobi, a middle school humanities teacher, brings Abe to life in a narrative of the frontier experience that is already being compared to the stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Painstakingly researched, Abe’s historically accurate account is safe in the hands of a trustworthy narrator: Abraham Lincoln, himself. Readers will meet the various mentors who made him the man he longed to be, mourn his many painful losses, and travel with him down the Mississippi River. Young Lincoln is biography at its finest, and it reminds us all that our icons and statues were once flesh and blood that walked among us.

Abe Lincoln is growing up on the American frontier in Indiana. It’s cold, there isn’t usually enough to eat, there’s nothing at all to read, and the one job that awaits him is farmer, like his overbearing father. But his step-mother’s books and a chance to travel down the Mississippi River offer Abe a window into a different world. Abe’s eyes are opened and he can’t go back to being the boy he was before.

With the help of his friends, Abe will strike out to find his own path. Obstacles wait around every river bend, and the shadow of death is never far, but nothing will stop him from becoming the man he knows he can be. You might think you know the end of his story, but you have no idea what it took to get there.

“A cracking good story—one that hews to the historical facts, while hewing from them the believable human figure of a boy named Abraham growing into the man Lincoln. This is a fine novel for readers of all ages and interests.”

—Robert Bray, author of Reading with Lincoln.

About the Author

For 27 years Jan Jacobi served as Head of Lower School at St. Louis Country Day School and Head of Middle School at Mary Institute-Country Day School. He is very tall, and some of the students thought he looked like Abe Lincoln, particularly when he spoke to them in assemblies wearing a top hat. It was on a seventh grade field trip to New Salem that Mr. Jacobi became deeply interested in Lincoln’s time there. Mr. Jacobi lives in St. Louis where he teaches at the St. Michael School of Clayton. In 2014, he was recognized as Middle School Teacher of the Year by St. Louis Magazine. Mr. Jacobi loves stargazing, gardening, and like Abraham Lincoln, reading the newspapers.

Fun Facts About the Author

1. Jan was once asked to become a Lincoln impersonator. He politely declined. He is a better writer than he is an actor. Too stiff.

2. His favorite scene in Young Lincoln was axed by the publisher. You can find it on page 676 of Herndon’s Informants, edited by Douglas Wilson and Rodney Davis.

3. Jan and his wife Ginger watch the Perseid meteor shower on warm, clear August nights while they vacation on Nantucket Island.

4. Jan and Ginger attended the C-SPAN re-enactment of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Alton, Illinois, in period dress. They sat on a hay bale for three hours.

5. The two places where Jan feels closest to Lincoln are New Salem (the reconstructed frontier village where Lincoln spent his early adulthood) and the Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D.C. (where Lincoln “vacationed” in the summer. What little peace he got was there.)

Author Q and A

1. Why did you write Young Lincoln?

Lincoln is a remarkable human being. There are so many dimensions to him. We have to be careful not to turn him into a saint, but his essential goodness speaks to me. He was a master politician, but that doesn’t mean he sacrificed his integrity. His leadership was characterized by lack of ego.

His is such a great role model for all of us. My students kept asking me for a book on Lincoln. There were books for children and for adults, but nothing for young adults. A colleague told me, “You should write it.” I began and soon realized it was going to be harder than I had thought.

2. What do you find most fascinating in Lincoln?

I’m interested in who he was emotionally. What were his thoughts and feelings? I have this vision of him carrying the burden of the Civil War, all that stress, and not having another human being with whom to share it. Not with his wife... not with anyone in Washington. Joshua Speed, his closest friend wasn’t there, and by 1860, his friendship with Speed had fallen apart over their conflicting views on slavery. And remember, Lincoln was often depressed during the Civil War. How did he survive? I don’t think anyone knows.

3. Was it hard to write as Abraham Lincoln?

Not really. Somehow in the Clayton Library in St. Louis, I could just forget everything and let his voice flow through me and into the story. It was both magical and eerie. When I walked in there in the morning, I felt my own voice fading away and Abe’s voice entering.

4. How long did it take you to do the research for the book?

Interestingly, that too was almost effortless. From the time I picked up Carl Sandburg’s The Prairie Years, I just couldn’t stop reading about Lincoln. I find him endlessly fascinating. The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago is a gold mine. I’d walk out of there every six months with five more books. David McCullough talks about the process of “marinating.” You have to allow the time for that to happen

5. Have you ever had an Abraham Lincoln “moment”?

You know, I have. Ginger and I were walking to the Alton debate re-enactment in period dress. Across the street was the actor playing Douglas followed by an enormous crowd trying to get his autograph. When they saw me, they rushed across the street and mobbed me. When I had to tell them the truth, they all quietly dispersed. Except for one eight-year-old boy, who still wanted my autograph.

6. Back to the book . . . Why did you include the heron?

I spent a lot of time at New Salem. I would sit on the bank of the Sangamon River where Lincoln and Jack Kelso talked about Shakespeare and Burns. Every now and then, a great blue heron flew overhead. When I saw one spearing fish in the river, I said to myself, “Darned if it doesn’t look like Abraham Lincoln!”

7. What are your hopes for the book?

We are all concerned that students aren’t reading. I hope they read the book and that they like it. The struggles Lincoln faced as a young adult are the same ones that our young people face today. They can learn from him. James McPherson dedicated his book Hallowed Ground to his grandson. He wrote, “May he too befriend Mr. Lincoln.” If I can introduce today’s students to the young man who became our greatest president, I really believe their lives will be enriched.

8. Will there be a sequel?

I hope so. I’m already starting to plan Lincoln in Springfield. It will be set during Lincoln’s years in Springfield which culminate in his election to the presidency.
 

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What: Author book signing for Young Lincoln

When: Saturday, June 9 from 9:00 a.m. to noon

Where: Lincoln’s New Salem Historic Site, 15588 History Lane, Petersburg, IL 62675

Admission: Free and open to the public

[Don Korte]