The Dear Mr. President series brings history alive through fictitious correspondence between a president and a young person. Although the letters are all imagined, they are based upon meticulous historical research. Elegantly designed in two colors, the books include photographs, maps, primary source material, a presidential biography, U.S. postal history, an index, and timelines. In this latest addition to the series, the United States descends into Civil War, a 12-year-old slave on a South Carolina plantation begins corresponding with the newly inaugurated President Lincoln. Full emancipation, the president writes to her, cannot come easily in so deeply divided a nation. But her continuing appeals prod the conscience of this burdened man, and he drafts the Emancipation Proclamation that sets Lettie on the road to freedom.