Monday, January 9, 2012

Themed Reviews: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

            An impressive and inspirational leader, Martin Luther King Jr. is honored, and his life's mission of peace and tolerance celebrated, with this federal holiday. It is observed in 2012 on Monday, January 16th (King's birthday was the 15th).

            Students typically study the Civil Rights Movement in their later elementary through college years, but that does not mean their knowledge of figures like Martin Luther King Jr. begins there. The number of picture books—and award winning ones at that—about him is striking. A search in CLCD for "Martin Luther King" with the qualifier ages 1 to 6 brings up 172 titles. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times notes that in a national survey where 2,000 high school students were instructed to list the most famous Americans in history instead of listing musicians and sports stars 67% included Martin Luther King Jr. and other figures from the Civil Rights Movement such as Rosa Parks (60%) and anti-slavery heroine Harriet Tubman (44%).

            This holiday has a close connection with children and teen librarians thanks to the American Library Association's prestigious Coretta Scott King Award, which commemorates the "life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood." Awarded annually, it recognizes an African American author and illustrator's work for its "outstanding inspirational and educational contribution," and boasts an impressive list of winner and honor books like Fallen Angels, Bud, Not Buddy, The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, and Martin's Big Words.

            To discover more books about Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement search CLCD where you will also find a complete list of Coretta Scott King Award and Honor winners as well as curriculum guides from teachingbooks.net.




Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans
Kadir Nelson


The fictional narrator, an elderly African-American woman, weaves together family lore and American history to impart to her child listener understanding and pride in his heritage: "You have to know where you come from so you can move forward." The resulting narrative is an intimately styled history lesson in which family members who took part in landmark events, from the Revolutionary War through the civil rights movement, take their rightful place beside players of greater renown. The narration spins out smooth as silk, and that is paradoxically the strength and the weakness of the title—a social studies lesson in which historical episodes are retold more compellingly than in any textbook, yet so ably and unfalteringly presented that the narrator herself seems (despite the frequent, down-homey interjections of "chile") implausibly glib. There is ample reward here, however, even for children who don't read a word of the text. Nelson's monumental paintings portray the humblest laborers, the most prosaic families as heroic figures in the epic drama of their history, and unnamed faces are imbued with the same dignified pride as those of Douglass and King and Parks. A timeline, bibliography, and index will assist students trolling for report material, but it's the powerful imagery that ultimately makes this essential to the American History collection. Review Code: R — Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2011, Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, $19.99. Grades 4-7. Reviewer: Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2011 (Vol. 65, No. 3)).
ISBN: 9780061730740
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