Wednesday, April 3, 2013

#28: Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.




Title: Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Author: Doreen Rappaport
Illustrator: Bryan Collier
Publishing Company: Scholastic
Copyright Date: 2001
# of pages: 29

Genre/category: Multicultural
 


            I chose this book because Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my favorite people from history. Martin was born on January 15 in Atlanta, Georgia. His whole life he had seen signs that said whites only everywhere he went.  He was raised up in church and had a dream that when he grew up, he would have big words. When he got older, he became a minister where he taught people that love is the only way to drive away hate. Martin led a march to do away with segregation and after ten years he finally won. He went to Tennessee to help garbage collectors where he was shot and died.
           
            The illustrations in this book are very elaborate. They are very colorful. They are made using watercolors and cut paper collages. This is one of the first book I have ever seen that uses cut paper collages and I think it makes the illustrations beautiful. Some of the pages have panels and then others are two-page spread.  The pictures are full page pictures and greatly show what Martin went through during his lifetime.

            This book would be great for children in grades three and above. It would be a good book to read while teaching a history lesson about segregation. It tells about many things that the blacks went through during this time. Students could also complete a Vein Diagram comparing the life as a black during this time to the life of a white person. Students could also have a writing assignment describing how they think they would have felt if they were a black person living during this time and what would they do. This book has not won any awards.

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