Mr. Lincoln Speaks at Gettysburg

Mr. Lincoln Speaks at Gettysburg is a history book written by Mary Kay Phelan for young readers. This is another book at risk of being lost because of the CPSIA. It's true that there are newer books that follow the same concept. I haven't compared them, so I can't comment on whether any are better than this one. But why should a library replace this book with a newer book when this one covers the topic so well? It would truly be a waste.

Phelan's bio on the dust jacket says

Mr. Lincoln Speaks At Gettysburg reflects her great interest in writing books that will bring American history to life and make it meaningful for today's young people.

The books is full of pictures including pictures of Lincoln, Gettysburg, and copies of the Gettysburg address for comparison.


The last chapter of the book contains an analysis of the words of the speech.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Despite the trying times that our country had just experienced, Lincoln doesn't talk about reforming America or "changing" it into something new. No. He talks about a rebirth of FREEDOM and a hope that a government of the people, by the people, for the people would not perish. He spoke about the lives that were lost on both sides and honored them.

This is a book that should not be lost.

When was that book printed? A CPSIA problem

Inspired by the Headmistress, I wanted to show some books that will be lost if CPSIA is enforced fully. The book below is a part of the large collection of Hardy Boys books from my library that could be wiped out.

Check out the really cool endpapers in this book.


This Hardy Boys book has a copyright date of 1970, printed in the USA. One could probably assume the printing date is similar, but it's not clear.


Check out The Swamp Witch. Our edition is a library edition. Also copyright date 1970 with unknown printing date. This book, with its original cover, is in incredible condition considering the amount of use and abuse it has received over the years. It has many, many more years of life. Few publishers offer library editions anymore.

All the pages in this book are black because the story takes place at night. The illustrations are really amazing.

This next book illustrates the problem facing libraries in determining when a book was printed. Some books indicate a printing date with the copyright statement, and some don't. This book is copyright 1968. The paperback edition was printed in 1989 in Mexico. The problem is this book is the hardback edition with no indication of when it was printed.


Supposedly there is a way to determine printing date from the barcode. I don't know many librarians versed in barcode decoding. I am not. And even to this date, publishers are not consistent in their barcode printing. Placement and style varies, which bugs me to no end when I go to catalog a book. This book has what appears to be a date in the barcode, but I am not entirely sure.


So if the book was indeed printed in May of 1995, this book had to have sat in a warehouse for 10 years. Our library didn't add this copy of the book until 2005. Seems unlikely to me, but I don't know what publisher/distributor warehouses are like or how long they store books before being sold. In any event, the easiest thing to do is to rely on the copyright date because that is the only consistent information that will show up in catalogs and in books.

Rick Woldenberg blogs some more on how the CPSIA is getting stupider and stupider. Dr. Robert Needlam asks if Baby Books have lead. He rightly points out that a rather large percentage of children's book are now printed in China (I would assume 95%, but I don't have solid numbers to base that assumption). Children's book printing was off-shored like a lot of other children's products. The irony is that Thomas Moore wants us to sequester books printed pre-1985 just in case of lead and yet it is imported Chinese made products that have proven to be the problem. The publishing industry claims books are all now printed with soy ink, including the ones printed post 1985. Somehow I doubt the publishing industry is anymore immune to the problem of Chinese manufacturers doing the good old "bait and switch" that other manufacturers have experienced. It is also unclear that they have done the intensive quality control with batch and lot testing. Maybe they have. Regardless, if two misplaced cans of paint can cause a recall of 436,000 toys, the publishing industry should not assume they are immune.

Even so, there is absolutely no evidence that a child has been endangered from lead tainted inks in books.

Goose in the Pond

Goose in the Pond is another book I tried to read in October 2008 right before the CPSIA implosion. I also started after I finished the Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, a book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Goose in the Pond by Earlene Fowler follows Bennie Harper as she solves the murder of a librarian - the story teller for the children's story time. The librarian happened to be dressed as Mother Goose and was found in a pond, hence the title. This is the first book in the Bennie Harper mysteries.

To be fair, my attention span was very limited and I had just come off of one goofy mystery that I enjoyed. I just couldn't get into it. Mysteries are not my thing, and my library has a lot of them. I am trying some of them out and I have discovered some new authors. I tend toward the goofy mysteries with a touch of the ridiculous. Earlene Fowler's books would certainly fill that category. But at least for this one, it wasn't for me. There are a lot of positive reviews at Amazon for it, so maybe it would be something that would interest you?

Howard's End

I listened to Howard's End on audio clear back in October right before the CPSIA implosion and so I am trying to catch up with my book reviews.

I loved, loved, loved listening to this audio book. It is available for free from Project Gutenberg courtesy of Librivox because the book is in the public domain. The reader was extremely talented and did an excellent job. Well worth the download!

Howard's End by E. M. Forster was originally published in 1910. The novel exams the differences between three classes of society by intertwining the stories of three families. The lowest and middle class families want to better themselves and the highest class wants to maintain their position. The interplay between the three makes for an excellent examination of how individuals treat each other based merely on their social position and how one's choices can cause one to move up and down the social ladder.

Even though the book was published in the height of the Victorian Era, there is plenty of fodder for contemporary readers. The novel is more modern than I expected in its themes - adultery, social injustice, murder, feminism, etc. Even so there is no gratuitous descriptions of those things, which is a relief compared to modern novels.

This book deserves a 5 star rating, IMO. (Link to free audiobook above).