Join us for Portraits of Lincoln on Tuesday, February 16, from 2:30-3:30pm to learn about the consequences of early reading, the boyhood of Lincoln, and the politics of education and self-improvement of one of our most revered presidents. We'll be hearing from:

>>> Dave Choberka, Ph.D. Andrew W. Mellon Curator for University Learning and Programs at the University of Michigan Museum of Art;

>>> Julia Mickenberg, Professor of American Studies, University of Texas at Austin

>>> Liz Goodenough, RC lecturer in Arts & Ideas in the Humanities

In course Children Under Fire: Narratives of Sustainability (RCHUMS 337 / ENVIRON 337) taught by Liz Goodenough, students learn that literature for and about children, from the earliest folk tales, has always addressed life and death. In diverse genres, from horror story to high adventure, from rags to riches, young heroes sustain themselves in the face of adult decisions regarding scarcity (food and water), violence, illness, and abuse. This environmental humanities seminar examines how early reading mediated crises challenging the future lives of US Presidents and First Ladies--from Andrew Jackson and James Garfield to Eleanor Roosevelt and Barack Obama.