A Choose to Read Ohio Good Brother, Bad Brother: Toolkit The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth By James Cross Giblin Use this toolkit to About the Book plan book discussions, library Born into a prominent acting family, Edwin programs, or Booth honed his acting skills to become one of classroom the most famous, beloved actors of his time. activities. Finding that acting came easily to him, John followed in his brother’s footsteps and became Meet Cleveland a thespian as well. Although the two brothers native James Cross chose the same career, had great stage Giblin, winner of the presence—and became alcoholics—they Sibert Medal for his couldn’t be more different in their approaches book The Life and to life, career paths, and destiny. Edwin Death of Adolf Hitler. became the default head of the family after their father died. He assumed all the Learn about two responsibilities for his family. He was disciplined brothers, both and stable, and married a young woman with whom he was deeply in love. The younger excellent actors, brother, John, was his mother’s favorite child, and how one went undisciplined, a womanizer, and never satisfied on to infamy as the with what he had. During the Civil War, the assassin of President brohers become polarized politically: Edwin Abraham Lincoln. supported Abraham Lincoln and the Northern cause, while John loathed Lincoln and Permission to use book jacket image granted by Discover additional cheered for the Confederate South. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. Book description by Stephanie Bange. books on similar topics, primary sources, and This fascinating dual biography follows the lives of these two brothers who were so websites to explore different, yet were bonded so tightly, that when one died at the age of 26, the other topics and themes was forced to bear the fallout from his beloved brother’s actions. Well-documented with primary source materials, this is an unforgettable comparative study of the lives in depth. of two brothers. Book Details Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth & John Wilkes Booth by James Cross Giblin Clarion Books, 2005. ISBN 978-0618096428. Ages 10-14. 256 pages Leveled Reading: AR Points: 12.0. ATOS Book Level 8.3. 1130 Lexile. hmhbooks.com/shop/books/Good-Brother-Bad-Brother/9780544809741 Book Awards include the 2005 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award, the 2006 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, and a 2007 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award nomination. Choose to Read Ohio About the Author Award-winning author James Cross Giblin was born in Cleveland on July 8, 1933 and was raised in Painesville, Ohio, where he spent summers reading books at his public library. As a boy, Giblin loved reading and drawing comic books. He attended Case Western Reserve University, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1954. He moved to New York City, attended Columbia University, and received a master’s degree in creative writing in 1955. Giblin initially thought he wanted to become a director and playwright. After a few disappointing years of acting and writing plays and TV scripts, he changed direction in1959 and began working in children’s publishing— first at Criterion Books; then Lothrop, Lee & Shepard; and finally at Seabury Press—where Giblin founded the children’s imprint, Clarion Books. When Author photo courtesy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. Clarion was bought by Houghton Mifflin in the late 1970s, Giblin published Author biography compiled by Stephanie authors such as Marion Dane Bauer, Eve Bunting, Eileen Christelow, and Bange. Mary Downing Hahn. He retired as chief editor from Clarion in 1989 to focus on his own writing career, editing only a few authors after that time. “...for every person Giblin was a meticulous researcher, his books are filled with a mix of history and storytelling that includes surprising details. His first book, The who knows that there Scarecrow Book, was co-written with Dale Ferguson. His second book, was once a great Chimney Sweeps: Yesterday and Today, won the 1983 American Book Award (later renamed National Book Award) Children’s Book Category. actor named Edwin He wrote over twenty books, chiefly nonfiction and biography for children Booth, there are and teens. thousands who know Twelve of Giblin’s books were listed as American Library Association that his brother, Notable Children’s Books. He won the National Council of Teachers of English Orbis Pictus Award for Charles A. Lindbergh: A Human Hero and for John Wilkes Booth, The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin. On three occasions he was assassinated awarded the Golden Kite Award for nonfiction, given by the Society of Abraham Lincoln. Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. In 2003, he received the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal for his biography The Life and Death of This is yet another Adolf Hitler. In 1996, he received the Washington Post-Children’s Book example of the Guild Award for Nonfiction for his body of work and in 2007, he was awarded the Ohioana Alice Louise Wood Award for Children’s Literature. long-held truism that villains in fiction and Giblin died in 2016 at age 82 after a short illness. in life are more interesting and Author Resources colorful than “What an Editor’s Job Is”: Roger Sutton interviews James Giblin heroes… www.highlightsfoundation.org/james-cross-giblin-interview Real life is more Ohio Center for the Book profile of James Cross Giblin complicated than ohiocenterforthebook.org/2018/02/13/giblin-james-cross fiction, however.” “James Cross Giblin, 82, Wide-Ranging Author of Books for Children, Dies” (The New York Times obituary) www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/books/james-cross-giblin-wide-ranging- author-of-books-for-children-dies-at-82.html library.ohio.gov/ctro Talk About It Topics to share when discussing Good Brother, Bad Brother with teens. Educators: Every CTRO book may be used to support Ohio’s English Language Arts reading, writing, and speaking and listening standards. Other Learning Standards, such as Social Studies: History: Civil War and Reconstruction (Grade 8) may also apply. Discussion questions and educational activities for Good Brother, Bad Brother align with Learning Standards for Grades 6-8. Librarians, parents, and others: These activities are also for library programs, family activities, and other projects. Learning Standards define what students should know and be able to do at each grade. For more information, see the Ohio Department of Education website, education.ohio.gov. From the Topics dropdown menu, click on “Learning in Ohio.” Understanding Editorial Cartoons “Satan tempting Booth to the murder of the President” www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003689283/ Ask students to look at this cartoon of John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre for two minutes. They may wish to use the first minute or so to focus on one quarter of the image at a time, covering the rest from their view with their hands or paper; the remainder of the time they may want to look at the caption and take in the entirety of the image. When the time is up, ask students to put away or turn over the cartoon and then jot down their first impressions of the image in Step 1. Ask students to share their findings of people, objects, and actions. Students may ask what Satan is holding. It is a peacock feather, a symbol of excessive pride, associated with sorcery but also immortality. Discuss their answers and any questions they may have about the cartoon. Using Primary Sources as Evidence “Blood Relics from the Lincoln Assassination” by James L. Swanson, Smithsonian Magazine, 2015. www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-blood-relics-from-the-lincoln-assassination-180954331 Have the class or group read this article about the twelve relics from Lincoln’s assassination, then divide the students into teams, each focusing on one of the relics. Let each team share the relic’s importance through oral presentations. Go Further Ideas for extending the experience of reading Good Brother, Bad Brother. Write an essay explaining whether knowing that the most notorious assassin in U.S. history was at times a good son, brother, and uncle makes him more or less frightening, approachable, interesting, or understandable, and why. Invent and "document" the dialogue between Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth if they had met backstage after Booth's November 9, 1863, performance of The Marble Heart. Draft a letter that John Wilkes Booth might have written to his older brother, Edwin, to be opened in the event of his death. Sharpen geography skills by assuming the role of an investigator trying to capture John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators. Using information in the book and from online resources available to students through INFOhio (infohio.org) and to all Ohio residents through Ohio Web Library (ohioweblibrary.org), pinpoint locations on a map and trace the path of John Wilkes Booth and the co-conspirators in Washington, D.C. Use separate colors for Booth, Davey Herold, George Atzerodt, and Lewis Powell. Continue to follow Booth and Herold's flight to Garrett's barn on regional maps, marking times and dates. A world map will be necessary to track John Surratt. Activities courtesy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, from A Teacher’s Guide to Good Brother, Bad Brother by James Giblin (www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/giblin/four.shtml). Used with permission. Choose to Read Ohio Check It Out Recommended for readers of Good Brother, Bad Brother. Assassins’ America: Four Killers, Four Murdered Presidents, and the Country They Left Behind by Joe Tougas and Jessica Gunderson. Capstone Young Readers, 2018.