Hiding in Plain Sight: Kate Warne and the Race to Save Abraham Lincoln

by Beth Anderson, Sally Wern Comport (Illustrator)

Overview

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.

A great read for President's Day!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635928235
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	01/28/2025
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	162,156
Product dimensions:	9.38(w) x 11.38(h) x 0.37(d)
Lexile:	580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Beth Anderson is the author of Revolutionary Prudence Wright, Tad Lincoln’s Restless Wriggle, and Cloaked in Courage. Her title Lizzie Demands a Seat won the Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Straus Award and the Norman A. Sugarman Children’s Biography Honor Award.

Sally Wern Comport is the illustrator of numerous picture books and covers, including Blast Off! How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into Space, Ada's Violin, and Nile Crossing. Sally has been working as an artist since she was 15 years old, when she would draw ads for her father’s advertising agency. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of American Illustration in New York.

Editorial Reviews

★ "Anderson (Lizzie Demands a Seat!, 2020) weaves questions through the text to heighten reader engagement in the events and employs a succinct sentence structure that palpably conveys the mission’s urgency... Comport immerses us in the drama with sepia-toned artwork that lends an aged feel to the framed pages. Meticulous illustrations employ the 'scrapbook house' collage style of the era, highlights of which include superbly detailed garments and period furniture. The subtle inclusion of timepieces throughout amplifies the exigency of Warne’s work. An apt companion to Marissa Moss’ books on Warne and Pinkerton, this is a lively choice for U.S. history or Women’s History Month displays [for a U.S. history or Women’s History Month display OR for U.S. history and Women’s History Month displays]."—Booklist, starred review

"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

From the Publisher

2024-10-25
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. Lincoln “wasn’t welcome” here because of his opposition to slavery. Kate and Allan Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, needed to convince Lincoln the threat was real. After they initially failed, they concocted a ruse that involved disabling telegraph lines, donning costumes, and keeping Southern spies at bay. Kate, traveling incognito, secured a berth for her “sick brother.” Lincoln boarded the train in disguise, and she kept watch until they arrived in Baltimore and his train car was rerouted. Having successfully safeguarded the president-elect, Kate disappeared into a Baltimore crowd, “hiding in plain sight” to await her next assignment. 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. (afterword, bibliography, illustrator’s note, archival photographs, picture credits)(Informational picture book. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews