Mr. Lincoln's Way

Title: Mr. Lincoln’s Way

Author: Patricia Polacco

Genre: Multicultural

Summary: All of the kids at school thought that Mr. Lincoln was the coolest principal in the whole world. He had cool clothes, a cool smile, and he did the coolest things. He went on nature walks, set up his telescope next to school at night for kids and their families, and he had tea parties with the students. In the winter, he was Santa for the Christmas play, lit the menorah for Chanukah, and wore a dashiki for Kwanzaa and a burnoose for Ramadan. One student didn’t think that Mr. Lincoln was the coolest. His name was Eugene Esterhause, also called “Mean Gene.” He was disrespectful to teachers and beat up most of the other kids. Mr. Lincoln said that Eugene wasn’t a “bad boy,” that he was “only troubled.” One day, Eugene pushed down a first-grader and took her backpack away from her. When she threatened to tell Mr. Lincoln on him, he said: “I ain’t afraid of that n---,” but he stopped because he saw Mr. Lincoln standing right there. The bell rang and Eugene ran off to class. One day, Mr. Lincoln was doing something with the fifth grade, when he noticed Eugene standing by the window, watching a red cardinal in the trees. This wasn’t the first time he had seen Eugene doing this. The next day at school, Mr. Lincoln called Eugene into his office and showed him a book all about birds. Eugene told Mr. Lincoln all about birds and said he knew about them from living on his grandpa’s farm. When Mr. Lincoln talked about his grandpa, Eugene walked out of the office. A week later, Eugene complained to Mr. Lincoln that the wrong food was in the atrium for the birds, so they weren’t coming. Mr. Lincoln asked Eugene to help attract the birds. Eugene read a book about birds in all of his classes. His teacher, Mr. Dunkle, was just happy to see him reading. Eugene and Mr. Lincoln made a list of plants and shrubs to buy for the birds and they even built three feed together. Eugene was so happy when the birds finally started to come. He didn’t even tease the other kids anymore. Nathatches, bluebirds, atanager and many colored finches began to come to the atrium. One day, Miss Chu went into Mr. Lincoln’s office and told him that there were two mallards nesting in the atrium. Eugene was hoping they were a mating pair. The other problem was that the ducklings will need to be near water. Mr. Lincoln knew that Eugene would think of something. Everyone thought that “Mean Gene” wasn’t mean anymore. Three days later, Mrs. Belding rushed into Mr. Lincoln’s office with Eugene. Apparently, Eugene had singled out two students from Mexico in the lunch line. He called the “brown-skinned toads.” Eugene began to cry when Mr. Lincoln began speaking to him. “My old man got read mad when I got home late from helping you. He said you’re not our kind,” Eugene said. Mr. Lincoln knew exactly what “kind” he was talking about, so he showed Eugene all of the different kinds of birds in the atrium of all different colors and explained to him that it was a beautiful place for all of them. Eugene agreed. Mr. Lincoln explained that everyone is different to Eugene and Eugene explained his problems at home. Eugene promised Mr. Lincoln that no matter what happened at home, he wouldn’t bring that attitude into school. Eugene stayed true to his promise. He became a “model citizen.” One day, he noticed that the eggs were starting to hatch, so he ran from room to room and brought everyone to watch. Eugene and Mr. Lincoln took all of the ducklings to the pond outside of the school. Suddenly, Eugene heard someone say “Eugene! Boy, over here!” It was his grampa! Mr. Lincoln shook his hand and was very happy to finally meet him. Later on, Eugene and Mr. Lincoln walked to the pond together. Eugene looked Mr. Lincoln in the eye and said: “I’ll make you proud of me, Mr. Lincoln. I promise.” Eugene stayed true to his promise. He became a fourth-grade teacher and called his students “my little birds.”

Characters: Eugene, Mr. Lincoln, Eugene’s grampa, Mrs. Belding, Miss. Chu

Setting: Eugene’s school

Plot: Eugene needed to stay true to his promises and try to be a better person

Theme: diversity; everyone is different but needs to be treated equally

Opinion: I liked reading this book. I thought it was good to show students that although everyone is different, they still need to be treated the same. Children can’t look at others based on color.