Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (A Holiday House Reader, Level 2) [Hardcover]

David A. Adler (Author), Colin Bootman (Illustrator), John Wallner (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001 | Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: Holiday House Reader: Level 2

Tells the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his life, accomplishments in the civil rights movement, and his impact on American history.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-A succinct introduction to the civil rights leader's life. Adler presents short, moving vignettes about the people and events that influenced the child and man: young King's sorrow when his white friends were no longer allowed to play with him because of his color, his father's refusal to purchase shoes when he was told to wait in the back of the store, and King's involvement as an adult in boycotts and freedom marches. Adler demonstrates that a good writer can tell an interesting and emotionally powerful story using simple vocabulary and short sentences. Bootman's full- and double-page realistic paintings help to fill in the details for the author's spare but well-chosen words. A good companion to Frances Ruffin's easy-reader Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington (Grosset & Dunlap, 2001).

Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, IL

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 1-3. From the Holiday House Reader series, this volume briefly introduces Martin Luther King Jr. as a civil rights leader. Adler points out not only King's childhood experiences with racism but also the values his parents taught him: self-respect, dignity in the face of injustice, and the power of ideas and words. This brief biography chronicles the main events of King's life and goes on to include his death and his legacy as "a powerful man of peace." Even in the small format of a beginning reader, Bootman's painterly illustrations convey the book's serious tone through the often grave expressions of the characters and the generally dark palette of colors. The book ends with a chronology and a bibliography. Since there's nothing childish about the approach of the text or the look of the illustrations, this book would be appropriate and appealing to somewhat older children who are reading below grade level. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1st edition (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823415724
• ISBN-13: 978-0823415724
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,636,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write both fiction and non-fiction. I begin my fiction with the main character. The story comes later. Of course, since I'll be spending a lot of time with each main character, why not have him or her be someone I like? Andy Russell is based, loosely, on a beloved member of my family. He's fun to write about and the boy who inspired the character is even more fun to know. Cam Jansen is based even more loosely on a classmate of mine in the first grade whom we all envied because we thought he had a photographic memory. Now, especially when my children remind me of some promise they said I made, I really envy Cam's amazing memory. I have really enjoyed writing about Cam Jansen and her many adventures. For my books of non-fiction I write about subjects I find fascinating. My first biography was Our Golda: The Life of Golda Meir. To research that book, I bought a 1905 set of encyclopedia. Those books told me what each of the places Golda Meir lived in were like when she lived there. I've written many other biographies, including books about Martin Luther King, Jr; George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; Helen Keller; Harriet Tubman; Anne Frank; and many others in my Picture Book Biography series. I've been a Yankee and a Lou Gehrig fan for decades so I wrote Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man. It's more the story of his great courage than his baseball playing. Children face all sorts of challenges and it's my hope that some will be inspired by the courage of Lou Gehrig. I am working now on another book about a courageous man, Janusz Korczak. My book One Yellow Daffodil is fiction, too, but it's based on scores of interviews I did with Holocaust survivors for my books We Remember the Holocaust, Child of the Warsaw Ghetto, The Number on My Grandfather's Arm, and Hiding from the Nazis. The stories I heard were compelling. One Yellow Daffodil is both a look to the past and to the future, and expresses my belief in the great spirit and strength of our children. I love math and was a math teacher for many years, so it was fun for me to write several math books including Fraction Fun, Calculator Riddles, and Shape Up! Fun with Triangles and Other Polygons. In my office I have this sign, "Don't Think. Just Write!" and that's how I work. I try not to worry about each word, even each sentence or paragraph. For me stories evolve. Writing is a process. I rewrite each sentence, each manuscript, many times. And I work with my editors. I look forward to their suggestions, their help in the almost endless rewrite process. Well, it's time to get back to dreaming, and to writing, my dream of a job. David A. Adler is the author of more than 175 children's books, including the Young Cam Jansen series. He lives in Woodmere, New York.