This informational text is an illustrated biography of Thomas Jefferson. Numerous quotes from letters and writings, along with a variety of photographs and illustrations provide a comprehensive look at the life and times of Jefferson. Prologue, Epilogue, Timeline, Notes, Bibliography.

Jon Meacham’s book “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power” was adapted into this young adult book by Sarah L. Thomson. An opening note to the reader by Meacham really speaks to a young audience, relating Meacham’s own early love for history. He expresses his hope that “young readers will find this adaptation…to be an engaging tale about a man who did extraordinary things but was far from superhuman.” This gave me high hopes, but I found this to be only partially true. I almost stopped reading the book halfway through, but was ultimately glad that I stuck with it because the writing style did improve greatly in the second half, where it was initially mediocre. The Contents page lists titles of twenty-five chapters bracketed by a Prologue and Epilogue before various valuable appendices such as In Jefferson’s World, Recommended Reading, Recommended Websites, Notes, Bibliography, Illustration Credits, and finally an Index. The chapters are mostly well-organized, based on the chronology of events. However, it seems as though Thomson adapted it simply by shortening the sentence structure and deleting a lot of information without rewriting things to maintain a good flow of ideas. Within the progressive stream of chapters, there is often little flow from paragraph to paragraph and between sentences within paragraphs. The deeper structure of the book is organized quite poorly, making it difficult to follow along and causing me to give this book a low rating.

The Prologue shares a title with the adult book, “The Art of Power.” It is here that problems start. On pages 2-3, stories of Peter Jefferson, Thomas’ father, boast that he could lift about one thousand pounds. This is not indicated to be hyperbole or a tall-tale, which I find important to convey to a young and impressionable audience who will interpret all stories told in this biography as fact. The sentence structure is painfully choppy, to the extent that it condescends to young readers, assuming them incapable of interpreting the meaning if too many words are grouped together between punctuation. For example, one short paragraph on page 3 begins: “The test did not begin well. He killed nothing. The woods were forbidding.” The last sentence of Chapter One identifies Williamsburg as the capital of Virginia, which is repeated in the very first sentence of Chapter Two on the facing page.

The most prevalent and frustrating editorial fumble is the frequency of sentences beginning with “and” or “but,” as though periods were added to break up complex sentences, but the words were not altered. This was very difficult to read, like a jolty horseback ride. It made me wonder if Meacham, an executive editor at Random House, was actually an editor of his own book. Fortunately, this ceases about midway through the long book.

The reader is sometimes left with a want for information. Page 25 relates a story about a “Virginia matron” and includes a quote from her, but fails to identify her by name, adding to the sense that to adapt this book, information was simply deleted. Page 31 says Jefferson “reached an agreement to level the top of the little mountain” and left me wondering “agreement with whom?” Chapter 25 discusses details of Jefferson’s death in 1826, which are poignant, but then it returns to the disorder found through much of the book. “Sally Hemings herself…lived there as a free woman” begins a paragraph on page 233, before the paragraph concludes “in 1834, Patsy gave Sally Hemings “her time” (i.e. her freedom). It left me confused about when Sally Hemings was a free woman – 1826 or 1834?

Paragraphs jump from topic to topic. The story of his marriage to Patty is conveyed over a few pages. Then, a paragraph begins with them finding a bottle of wine as they “settled in at Monticello” (p. 39) before diverging to discuss Patty’s role as a housekeeper. The next two paragraphs of the chapter discuss Jefferson’s sophistication, followed by two paragraphs about deaths of loved ones. The chapter leads to a close with a couple of paragraphs about slavery and rapid-fire details about various Hemings relatives before boasting of Jefferson’s achievements in the final two-sentence paragraph. On page 74, there is a two-sentence paragraph about General Washington in 1776, a paragraph about the children Patty bore for Jefferson, then a paragraph that begins “Worries about the war were everywhere” before quick mention of France, Britain, and then Jefferson’s gubernatorial election, all in the same paragraph and only related to the birth of his children through chronology. On page 110, a paragraph begins “Lafayette was also placed in charge of the safety of [the King and Queen],” while the rest of the paragraph discusses Patsy Jefferson and a French hat she liked to wear. I often found myself flipping back to make sure I had not missed details. I had not; the book was just confusing.

Despite these many drawbacks, I did come to enjoy the book and I learned a great deal. It is rich with history and stories from primary sources. I delighted in the plethora of images – there was one on nearly every page. I found especially important the appendix In Jefferson’s Lifetime, which lists important world events while he was alive and really grounds his story within a broad human history. I also enjoyed how the book did not over-glorify Thomas Jefferson. It acknowledged him as being the hypocrite he was in many ways. On page 233, the author quotes Jefferson as saying “’There is nothing I would not sacrifice to a practicable plan’ to ending slavery,” then observes “but this was not true. He was not willing to sacrifice his own way of life.” On page 236, Meacham summarizes Jefferson as “a bundle of contradictions,” but gently reminds the reader that this is “like so many of us” and “he is human, too.” I found this treatment delicate and honest. I would not discourage any young person from reading this book. ( )

Reviewed for professional publication. ( )

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