From the Bookshelf of Mock Newbery 2026…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
Filled with details about counterfeit cash rings and the origin of the Secret Service whose members were originally tasked to root out counterfeiting and were not involved in protecting the nation's President until 1901, this book is filled with small and large acts of heroism as well as criminal acts. The author painstakingly describes the origins for the plot to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln and then provides a great deal of information about the individuals involved in hatching and follow
...more
Patrick Tyrell started his career in the Chicago sector of the Secret Service trying to track down and capture Benjamin Boyd, a famous counterfeiter. After Tyrell made captured Boyd, he was sentenced to 10 years in jail in Joliet Prison. However, his job was not done. He was promoted, and now his job was to track down the all the counterfeiters in Illinois, Missouri & Wisconsin. Behind Boyd, there was Jim Kennally, but he just couldn’t keep up the brisk business of Boyd. Without Boyd making the
...more
3.5 stars for this middle grade non-fiction book about the plot to steal Lincoln's body. Recommended age group for this is 10 and up which sounds about right. Sheinkin does a great job of writing this and moving the story along but I have to admit that the whole crazy scheme is so convoluted that kids may get confused by it. This is the type of history, though that I wish they would teach in school. Things like this are fascinating and you learn so much about different aspects of life then (like
...more
So so so good! Sheinkin writes nonfiction in such an exciting way. Characters, plot, setting, everything becomes the perfect ingredients in a first class story.
In this book, readers are introduced to some of the major players in the counterfeit money business back in the 1870s. He reveals that the plot to steal President Lincoln's corpse grew out of issues relating to counterfeit money and the need for a larger than life bargaining chip to get a key player back in the business. With cliffhangers ...more
In this book, readers are introduced to some of the major players in the counterfeit money business back in the 1870s. He reveals that the plot to steal President Lincoln's corpse grew out of issues relating to counterfeit money and the need for a larger than life bargaining chip to get a key player back in the business. With cliffhangers ...more
Since I'm not much of a nonfiction fan, I really like nonfiction that reads like fiction. This one tells the fantastical, but true story of a plot to steal President Lincoln's body to try to force the release of a talented counterfeiter who was currently in prison. Of course all the convoluted plans to steal Lincoln's body were made without the knowledge or permission of the man in prison! He was going about his own business, doing his time peacefully, never knowing all this plotting was happeni
...more
Richie's Picks: LINCOLN'S GRAVE ROBBERS by Steve Sheinkin, Scholastic Press, January 2013, 224p., ISBN: 978-0-545-40572-0
"We're in the basement
Learning to print, all of it hot
Ten-twenty-thirty million dollars ready to be spent
We're stackin' 'em against the wall
Those gangster presidents"
--The B52s, "Legal Tender"
"Making fake paper money was a lot trickier than making coins. For a successful operation, you needed a whole network of distributors and shovers to spread the coney in various cities. Y ...more
"We're in the basement
Learning to print, all of it hot
Ten-twenty-thirty million dollars ready to be spent
We're stackin' 'em against the wall
Those gangster presidents"
--The B52s, "Legal Tender"
"Making fake paper money was a lot trickier than making coins. For a successful operation, you needed a whole network of distributors and shovers to spread the coney in various cities. Y ...more
Set during the years 1874-1880, counterfeiters and the Secret Service are the "stars" of this true thriller, with President Lincoln's body serving the role of hostage. Excellent resources, cast of characters, glossary of terms, and photographs make this a very accessible chapter book when the younger reader wants lots of adventure but more than a nonfiction picture book.
...more
I told the gaggle of 6th grade boys I was driving to Springfield, Illinois, it takes just over three hours to listen to this book. It turns out between the book and a tin of Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty to keep their hands busy, the boys were quiet and happy the whole time--without devices. Amazing! Don't get me wrong, devices have their place and are very handy on long road trips, but I wanted the boys to enjoy each other's company and look out at the area we were driving through. And, since th
...more
This book was one of those "so incredible it has to be true" stories. Students will like the macabre aspect as well as the escapades of the bumbling secret service.
...more
An engrossing non-fiction account of the Secret Service's thwarting of a group of oounterfeiters' attempt to steal Lincoln's body from his tomb in Springfield on Election Night in November 1876. Having visited the tomb both as a child and an adult, I could appreciate the description of the dark, dreary, maze-like labyrinth of passages inside the tomb, and I was appalled by the substandard conditions in the tomb that safeguards the remains of one of America's most highly-esteemed presidents. I gl
...more
Feb 20, 2013
Benji Martin
marked it as to-read
Apr 03, 2013
Wendy Garland
marked it as to-read
May 22, 2013
Gresham
marked it as to-read
Jun 20, 2013
Beth
marked it as middle-grade-to-read
Dec 20, 2014
Amy
marked it as to-read
Apr 06, 2015
Carol Coutts
marked it as to-read
May 08, 2015
Kirsten Barber
marked it as to-read
Jun 02, 2015
Linda
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2019
Julie
marked it as to-read
