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32 MAY 2011
Sandler
continued froM PAGe 31
library and museum, its archives,
which I use a lot.”
Martin had lugged a few of his
books to Osterville to show me.
One of his “Through the Lens”
books, about President Abraham
Lincoln, lay before us. I felt a
familiar yearning to learn more
about this president. Martin generously
signed the book, included
a thoughtful letter and gave it to
me. As he wrote, he said, “The
publisher came to me, asking for
a book that would celebrate the
president’s 200th birthday.” The
wonder of it all was still fresh on
Martin’s face. “Lincoln through the
Lens: How Photography Revealed
and Shaped an Extraordinary Life”
(Walker Books for Young Readers,
2008) for middle-graders and young
adults, was thus born. Like all his
photographic books, he’d “carefully
chosen each of his photographs to
make sure they offered something
fascinating and fresh” to his readers.
As he sat next to me at the table,
Martin flipped to a photo he’d
included from Lincoln’s second Inaugural
Address. His eyes twinkled
mischievously. He pointed to a man
with a moustache and stovepipe
hat. The man peered down at the
president from a railed platform.
“Can you guess who that is?”
Martin asked me.
I couldn’t.
Martin identifed John Wilkes
Booth, “Who,” he explained, “only
41 days later, shot and killed the
president.” Then he indicated a
second amazing fact about the same
photo: The five assassin-conspirators
stood beneath the president’s
podium.
I realized that this two-time
Pulitzer Prize nominee is painstakingly
inquisitive and loves sharing
all discoveries.
Martin has also received the Boston
Globe-Horn Book Award and
the CINE Golden Eagle Award. Every
book of his has been published
– an achievement in and of itself.
But I really wondered: Which of his
awards thrilled him the most?
He joked, “I’m such an egoist, but
when my children’s book ‘The Story
of American Photography’ won the
Horn Book Award, that was the first
big one, so it was the most exciting.”
“My favorite part of all this is
going into schools and sharing my
books with kids,” he said. “I love to
see their faces light up over interesting
people in our history.”
“I’m very lucky,” he reiterated. “I
don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t
do my research and writing.”
His current project is another
book about John F. Kennedy, the
president who, like Martin himself,
cherished his Cape Cod home and
was a fan of photos. “I’m working on
one for adults, which will be out in
2013: ‘The Letters of John F. Kennedy.’
No one has ever published
these millions of letters to the
president. It’s an enormous project,
but there are letters from kids,
celebrities and ordinary people, and
readers will learn all about the man,
his presidency and the times.”
Martin has become a leader of
new information from old firsthand
written and picture accounts,
and from direct quotes of those
who lived and spoke before us – a
result of his joy in sharing historical
discoveries. And alongside these
discoveries, is an engaging man who
enriches readers young and old by
leading us down paths of history we
otherwise would have never known.
About the author
Sara Webb Quest lives in South
Yarmouth with her husband, daughter
and cat. Her stories have appeared in
Fandangle, Woman’s World, Parenting
and various Cape Cod publications.
She has written several children’s
books, including “Aydil Vice and
Her Disgustin’ Hair Knots” and an
adult poetry book, “The Other Side
of the World.” She is a member of the
Society of Children’s Book Writers
and Illustrators, and you can visit
with her at www.authorsden.com/
sarawebbquest. She is also a writing
tutor for ages K-adult.