30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible Book!, January 4, 2002
By A Customer
This book is so good! I have read the book to students from Kindergarten to 5th grade. They were completely entranced by the book. I teach English language learners so they do not know American history. My African students in particular were facinated by the history presented in the book and were very respectful while I read. I have a presentation of Martin Luther King Jr. in my classroom and the students would walk with me to the presentation area and ask questions about the pictures and the history depicted in them. They loved a drawing of Martin in the Birmingham jail and the Nobel Peace Prize he won. This book helped me present an important person to my students in a way that was meaningful and memorable.
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61 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The rare little children's bio of Dr. King, March 1, 2005
When I first started reviewing children's books on Amazon.com I gave myself a long list of rules to follow. And one of those rules stated that I was not to read other reviews of a book on the site until AFTER I'd written my own review. I wanted my little writings to remain unsullied and pure, filled only with my own thoughts (which I obviously mistook to be brilliant) and feelings. After a while though I gave up on this rule. By and large (and this is not speaking for all reviews... just 90% of them) a review for a children's book goes something along the lines of "It was good, my four-year-old requests it every night, buy this book, etc.". Nothing too shocking or revealing. So I grew lazy. I started reading other reviews of picture books long before I sat down to actually write a review of my own. Just moments ago I went to do the same thing for the beautiful picture book, "Martin's Big Words". This book was on my list of must-reads because it had garnered itself a Caldecott Honor years before. So I went to the appropriate Amazon.com page (much as you are now) and read the first review on the list. At the time, it was an unassuming July 18, 2002 review entitled, "There's Something Wrong Here...". I read the review. I digested the review. And I came to the inescapable opinion that the points raised in the review were good ones. Ones that I should consider, dare I say, in my OWN review. This is unprecedented. Never has a review for a book, a children's book, really hit home for me like this one did. So to that mysterious reader who thought to make a point back in 2002, I commend you. And to myself, a mental whipping for breaking my own rules. It's a hard act to follow, but I've a point or two of my own to make and I'm gonna make `em.
Now as a children's librarian I get a whole heaping helpful of small children coming in around January 17th (or just before) requesting books on Martin Luther King Jr. For the older children, such requests are usually easy enough to fulfill. But for little ones with short attention spans and even shorter vocabularies, the choices are limited. Fortunately, there's, "Martin's Big Words". A beautiful encapsulation of the life of the great man, the book shows Martin as a child, first encountering the insanity of segregation. We see him grow up and preach a gospel of love and acceptance. Following this are small looks at the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, civil rights marches, and his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. Finally, while marching with striking garbage collectors (a fact not often mentioned in children's biographies of King), he was shot and killed. Says the book at the end, "His big words are alive for us today".
The book is stunning to look at, you know. The endpapers consist of pane after pane of brown, peach, amber, and umber stained glass. Taken together, the stained glass appears to be a variety of different skin tones all working together to make something beautiful. Using collage, illustrator Bryan Collier peppers his unique style with symbolic images (such as four lit candles placed in remembrance of the girls killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist church). In the rest of the book, Collier's images leap off the page. They're bright, colorful and eclectic. Combined with author Doreen Rappaport's elegant eloquent narrative, children get a full understanding of the courage and greatness behind Dr. King's life and actions.
So what about the complaints of this book? Let's examine them fully. First of all, one criticism is that in the image of the civil rights march there are thirteen men on display, none of whom are either white or female. This is true. And it is a little odd. Not don't-buy-this-book odd. Just why-did-the-illustrator-make-that-choice odd. From looking at the picture I can only assume that Collier was working off a snapshot of a portion of a march from the past and didn't notice that it was a bit skewed. The other criticism of the book is that whites are only portrayed as evil rednecks that want to kill Dr. King. I dunno. The book says plenty of things about diversity and the coming together of the races. As for the lack of positive white images, I admit they're not present in this particular book. However, the world is filled to overflowing with books that DO present positive images of white people. As a white person myself, I'm sick to death of 'em. And I'd gladly exchange four or five hundred such books for a single one that was half as beautifully illustrated and written as "Martin's Big Words".
So yeah, the book has a flaw here or there. But it also fills a need. However important you deem it that your children see positive images of whites during the Freedom Marches is your prerogative. But don't pass "Martin's Big Words" by because it fails to fully display the diversity of the 60s in your eyes. It's a great book with a great message. It's also one of the few King bios that'll capture your seven-year-old's attention for longer than a minute. A great addition to any library and a necessary purchase for anyone who wants to teach their small child about a magnificent man.
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129 of 156 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
There's Something Wrong Here ..., July 18, 2002
By A Customer
On the surface, Martin's big words appears to be a wonderful way for kids to learn about MLK. When I sat down to read it with my 3-year-old girl (and learned that she already knew about Dr. King from nursery school), I expected to be pleased. It was she, however, who noticed in the march drawings that there were no little girls. Perhaps she was trying to find a connection for herself. Then I took a closer look and realized there were no women at all in the march drawings (yes, the artist/writer does pay tribute to the four little girls killed in the church bombing, but what a child notices most are the pictures) ... and then, that there were no white people in the march drawing. In fact, the only place white people exist in this book are as racist Southerners. Funny, that's not how I remember the civil rights fight.
All of sudden, the beauty of the drawings and the words took on a new meaning -- this is a book that paints the Civil Rights movement as one of the black people, by the black people and for the black people. The true strength of the movement came from the participation, sacrifice, and yes deaths, of men, women and children of all races and creeds. And if a 3-year-old notices it, something must be wrong.
Is this book a wonderful idea -- yes. Does it paint an accurate picture of the Civil Rights Movement -- no. Are these complaints too subtle -- absolutely not. The devil, my friends, is in the details!
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