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Of course, by grade school all Americans have learned about LincolnÊ - our 16th president who led the country through its Civil War only to be assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Ford Theater on Good Friday, days after the war ended.
Gollaher was Lincoln's childhood friend and neighbor and is credited in some Lincoln biographies and other historical data with saving the future president's life when he was just 7 years old.
As the story goes, the boys were crossing Knob Creek near where they lived in Kentucky when Lincoln fell in and almost drowned. Gollaher saved him, assuring Lincoln could grow up to become president and one of the most famous Americans in history.
History seemed to forget Gollaher, though - until now. Award-winning children's author Deborah Hopkinson has written a cleverly styled book about the incident.
"Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, a Tall, Thin Tale" is the middle Book Buzz Pick for February. It's also the centerpiece of the ninth annual Family Reading Night being held next Friday, March 6, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Washington Middle School.
This theme is "Readers Become Leaders," tying into the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birthday.
Hopkinson is this year's guest author and will speak to families about "Abe Lincoln," along with her guest, John Hendrix, the book's illustrator, who happens to be from St. Louis. Hendrix also happens to play a physical role in the story as Hopkinson tells it.
Longtime fans of The Missourian's Book Buzz column are already familiar with Hopkinsons' work - four of her books have been previous Book Buzz Picks ("Saving Strawberry Farm," Apples to Oregon," "A Packet of Seeds" and "Firestorm.") She actually has dozens of books to her name, and many of them are award-winners.
Like "Abe Lincoln," many of Hopkinson's books have a historical aspect to them. She was drawn to write a book about a young Abe falling in a creek as part of the celebration surrounding Lincoln's 200th birthday Feb. 12 this year.
"I love historical anniversaries because I think they give young readers a 'handle' on how to make sense of the past," Hopkinson told The Missourian. "Historical time lines can be very confusing - but by putting down some 'anchors' - the American Revolution, the birth of President Lincoln, the Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic - young people can begin to make sense of the past.
"I was especially interested in this story because it takes place when Lincoln was a child."
Hopkinson writes the story in a folksy style and "talks" to readers as she goes along - "Now here's an old tale of two boys . . . I like it so well, I've asked my friend John to help out by drawing some pictures . . . Don't you feel like sticking your toes into that rushing water?"
At one point, Hopkinson even talks to readers about the story itself - "Hold on one minute! I want to be sure we get this right. Because maybe it didn't happen like that . . . let's try again."
The exact details of how Gollaher saved Lincoln are not known, so Hopkinson has fun imagining what might have happened one way and another.
"I wanted to find an original and fun way to encourage kids to think about history and also expand their awareness of how to read history," she said. "I was also hoping to find a way to help young writers become more aware of what goes into a story."
Chris Stuckenschneider, co-coordinator of the Missourian Book Buzz program and a member of the Family Reading Night committee, said with "Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek," Hopkinson "has taken what could have been a dry incident and made it captivating for young readers.
"Much of that has to do with the illustrations," she noted, "which are playful and actually involve the illustrator's hand holding the pencil as he draws the illustrations."
Although Hopkinson's hope for "Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek" is that it sparks an interest in kids to learn more about Lincoln, she is even more hopeful that kids become inspired by Gollaher.
"Most of all I hope they come away realizing that ordinary people - like Austin Gollaher - have a place in history, too," she said. "I think because our culture is so celebrity-driven that sometimes young people feel that becoming famous is the only way to measure success. Perhaps reading about Austin will help balance this!"
Craft Tables, Book Fair, Reading Rooms
After Hopkinson's presentation, families can choose from several activities going on around the school. There will be book-related crafts in the cafeteria, a Scholastic book fair in the library and book readings by local community, educational and future leaders, as well as local heroes, in eight of the classrooms.
As a special treat this year, Shirley Hillhouse's students from Labadie Elementary will put on an Abe Lincoln skit in the Future Leaders reading room (243) from 7:40 to 8 p.m.
The craft tables are being hosted by the parent organizations from Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Francis Borgia Grade School, South Point Elementary, Fifth Street Elementary, Augusta Elementary and St. Ignatius of Loyola in Concord Hill; the Washington Community Teachers Association/NEA and the Washington Town and Country Fair.
Each of the craft activities will be centered around Book Buzz Picks. Kids will be making things like Abe Lincoln hats, cardboard roll horses and Popsicle animal puppets.
Families will be given raffle tickets as they arrive at Family Reading Night for their chance throughout the evening to win $5 Book Bucks to be used at the Scholastic book fair.
Both the craft tables and the book fair will be open from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The reading rooms, however, will be limited to one hour from 7 to 8 p.m. and broken into three 20-minute sessions.
This arrangement is a change from previous years, noted Dawn Kitchell, Missourian In Education coordinator and Family Reading Night committee chair.
The reading rooms are set up in a more organized time frame this year, Kitchell said, based on feedback from previous years.
"The readers found it disruptive to have children coming and going while they were reading, so this year we're going to try to close the doors on each of our eight rooms while reading is under way," she said.
Children who visit reading rooms will have a chance to enter a drawing for one of several reading baskets donated by local organizations. Bookmarks are being distributed to local schools and they'll also be available when children arrive at Family Reading Night. Children can have their bookmarks initialed in each reading room they visit and then enter their bookmarks in the drawing for the baskets.
Each Reading Basket has a different theme. One basket celebrates Dr. Seuss and was donated by the Washington Community Teachers' Association/NEA. All are filled with books, including a basket of Deborah Hopkinson books, one with past Book Buzz Picks about baseball, one with farm books and Washington Town and Country Fair memorabilia and one donated by Sylvan Learning Center. The Washington Friends of the Library group donated a basket with more than a dozen hardback books.
The drawing for the baskets will be held at the end of Family Reading Night, however children dont have to stay until then to win, noted Kitchell.
Month of Reading Events
Hopkinsons presentation at Family Reading Night is being sponsored by the Washington Kiwanis Club and a Read First! grant from the Missouri Humanities Council. Washington was one of 10 communities to receive the special grant to use in organizing a month of reading activities.
Family Reading Night is the kickoff for Washingtons Read First! activities, which include several workshop sessions educating parents on how to engage their children with books and enhance what they may already be doing.
One training, sponsored by the Washington Parents As Teachers program, will be held for teen parents and a second series of workshops will be held at a local factory during lunch breaks as an alternative way to reach busy parents.
A free one-hour workshop will be held Tuesday, March 31, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Washington Public Library. Participants will learn fresh techniques to make story time fun at home, in the childcare center or at school. There will be refreshments and door prizes. Childcare will be provided, so registration can be made by calling 636-390-1070.
The library also has other special events aimed at reaching very young children - a goal of the Read First! campaign, and information on those programs can be found by contacting the library at the number above.
The ninth annual Family Reading Night is sponsored by The Missourian, the Washington Kiwanis Club, School District of Washington and the Missouri Humanities Council.
Additional support is provided by Pepsi Cola Bottling Co. of New Haven, Washington Public Library and Friends of the Library, Washington Community Teachers' Association/NEA, Sylvan Learning Center and the Washington Town and Country Fair.
