Monument Maker: Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln Memorial (The History Makers Series)

Named to the Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year for 202020th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards Must Reads: A Must-Read Picture BookCYBILS Award short listWhen Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, fifteen-year-old Dan French had no way to know that one day his tribute to the great president would transform a plot of Washington, DC marshland into Americas gathering place. He did not even know that a sculptor was something to be. He only knew that he liked making things with his hands.This is the story of how a farmboy became Americas foremost sculptor. After failing at academics, Dan was working the family farm when he idly carved a turnip into a frog and discovered what he was meant to do. Sweeneys swift prose and Fieldss evocative illustrations capture the single-minded determination with which Dan taught himself to sculpt and launched his career with the famous Minuteman Statue in his hometown of Concord, Massachusetts. This is also the story of the Lincoln Memorial, Frenchs culminating masterpiece. Thanks to this lovingly created tribute to the towering leader of Dans youth, Abraham Lincoln lives on as the man of marble, his craggy face and careworn gaze reminding millions of seekers what America can be. Dans statue is no lifeless figure, but a powerful, vital touchstone of a nations ideals. Now Dan French has his tribute too, in this exquisite biography that brings history to life for young readers.