Hiding in Plain Sight
Kate Warne and the Race to Save Abraham Lincoln
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Available from:
Published by Calkins Creek (2025-01-28)
America’s first female detective Kate Warne’s mission? Protect president-elect Abraham Lincoln from Southern rebels bent on assassinating him before his inauguration.
Abraham Lincoln faces a dangerous and uncertain future after leaving Springfield, Illinois, for his inauguration in Washington, DC. Luckily for him, detective Kate Warne has his back, even if he didn’t know it yet.
Working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, Kate uncovers the rebel plot to kill Abraham Lincoln in Baltimore. Kate warns Lincoln’s staff that this only Southern city on his inaugural train route to Washington, DC is planning a deadly welcome. President-elect Lincoln is urged to change his route. But he refuses to cancel his commitments. In a race against time, Kate and Pinkerton have one last chance. Using disguises, false names, and the cover of darkness, the detectives put their plan into action.
Can they sneak Lincoln through Baltimore undetected?
Can they fool the spies watching his every move?
Can they get Lincoln safely to DC?
This exciting American history picture book from award-winning author Beth Anderson, well-known for action-packed books on daring women, and illustrated by Sally Wern Comport in her signature mix of collage, drawing, and paint, brings Kate Warne to thrilling and vivid life.
Abraham Lincoln faces a dangerous and uncertain future after leaving Springfield, Illinois, for his inauguration in Washington, DC. Luckily for him, detective Kate Warne has his back, even if he didn’t know it yet.
Working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, Kate uncovers the rebel plot to kill Abraham Lincoln in Baltimore. Kate warns Lincoln’s staff that this only Southern city on his inaugural train route to Washington, DC is planning a deadly welcome. President-elect Lincoln is urged to change his route. But he refuses to cancel his commitments. In a race against time, Kate and Pinkerton have one last chance. Using disguises, false names, and the cover of darkness, the detectives put their plan into action.
Can they sneak Lincoln through Baltimore undetected?
Can they fool the spies watching his every move?
Can they get Lincoln safely to DC?
This exciting American history picture book from award-winning author Beth Anderson, well-known for action-packed books on daring women, and illustrated by Sally Wern Comport in her signature mix of collage, drawing, and paint, brings Kate Warne to thrilling and vivid life.
Book Details
Format:
Hardcover
Price:
18.99 USD / 24.99 CAD
Published: 2025-01-28
ISBN: 9781635928235
Imprint:
Calkins Creek
Page Count: 48
Trim Size: 9 x 11
Grades:
Grades 2-5
Ages:
7-10 years
"A detective foils a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. This expertly paced tale ratchets up the tension as readers learn that Lincoln’s life was in danger as he set out by train to Washington, D.C., for his 1861 presidential inauguration. Anderson adeptly plays with dramatic irony: Readers likely already know that he ultimately made it. But how? Enter Kate Warne, 'the first female detective in the United States,' who uncovered a plot to kill Lincoln in Baltimore, his only stop in the South. Organized chronologically, each spread opens like a scrapbook, with pictorial maps of Lincoln’s train route and framed portraits of principal characters and events, all suffused in an ominous, dusky palette. Cleverly, Comport incorporates recurring images of timepieces, matching the sense of suspense layered into Anderson’s text—time is indeed of the essence. A lively, luminous account of a lesser-known woman’s ingenious contribution to presidential history.' —Kirkus Reviews
"The tight focus on the duration of the inaugural train makes for an urgent, almost thriller-like pace... (the) collage art... is stunning (and) inspired..."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
