Advanced Children's Literature: Informational/ Biography

Adler, David A. DR.MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. Illustrated by Colin Bootman. New York: Holiday House, 2001.

This book is a Holiday House Reader, Level 2 book. I very much prefer Adler’s Picture Book Biography Series, but because of the current popularity of leveled readers and the essential and perennially appealing subjects of Dr. King, the holiday named in his honor, Black History Month, and the study of Civil Rights the book will certainly find an audience. The writing and illustrations are dull and unimaginative. This may be an unfair criticism such as wanting a “Rookie Reader” to be a book that a child will automatically reach for. The book is adequate but does not do justice to the man or the movement. It appears to be written for profit, with an agenda possibly of being used with a "fill in the blank" type of school report ditto. With books like Marzollo & Pinkney's HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARTIN LUTHER KING, Rappaport & Collier's multiple award winning MARTIN'S BIG WORDS, Christine King Farris' MY BROTHER MARTIN or MARCH ON! I believe it would truly be a rare teacher, parent, or child that would prefer Adler's version. I am surprised and disappointed by the lack of quality in this work. I would not purchase it for a public library and only if a teacher made a specific request would I purchase it for a media center. I would first attempt to talk the educator into one of the above titles. If the demand is high for a leveled book about MLK, Robin Hill School's MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY, in the Ready-to-Read series, level by McNamara is a remarkable improvement over this Adler volume.