Children's Books for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

For the What My Child is Reading link-up at Mouse Grows Mouse Learns, I thought I'd share a few good biographies, for children, we've come across, for the holiday on Monday.

Young Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have a Dream" by Joanne Mattern. As part of the "Troll First-Start Biography" series, this is a good choice to read to younger children. It is short, simple and to the point, but manages to cover Dr. King's life from childhood through death, touch briefly on the history of slavery, as well as unfair civil laws, and legacy of the civil rights movement in modern America.



Slightly older children (ages 8 and above) might enjoy Bonnie Bader's Who was Martin Luther King, Jr?...


...or Ellen Levine's If You Lived in the Time of Martin Luther King. Both books are fairly wordy, but still child friendly looks at the man and the time in which he lived. I appreciate the fact that Bonnie Bader includes brief biographies of several additional individuals who struggled, and in some cases lost their lives, for civil rights, as well. And, Levine's book includes the words and sheet music for the inspirational hymn, "We Shall Overcome" at the back.



Finally, for a family read-aloud, you might consider Blast to the Past, King's Courage by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon, part of the authors' time travel, historical, adventure series, in which a group of school friends must travel to the past to encourage individuals to carry on at pivotal, but seemingly hopeless, moments in history.


It's great to be a homeschooler.