A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Picture Book Biography

by David A. Adler, Robert Casilla (Illustrator)

"Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of America's great leaders. He was a powerful speaker, and he spoke out against laws which kept black people out of many schools and jobs. He led protests and marches demanding fair laws for all people." Dr. King dreamed of a world free of hate, prejudice and violence. This book is about the life and ideals of an outstanding man.

Genres: Biography, Picture Books, History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Holiday, African American

Paperback

First published September 1, 1989

About the author

David Abraham Adler is an American children's author. He was born in New York City, New York in 1947. He graduated from Queens College in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in economics and education. For the next nine years, he worked as a mathematics teacher for the New York City Board of Education, while taking classes towards a master's degree in marketing, a degree he was awarded by New York University in 1971. In that same year, a question from his then-three-year-old nephew inspired Adler to write his first story, A Little at a Time, subsequently published by Random House in 1976. Adler's next project, a series of math books, drew on his experience as a math teacher. In 1977, he created his most famous character, Cam Jansen, originally featured in Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds, which was published that year.

Adler married psychologist Renee Hamada in 1973, and their first child, Michael, was born in 1977. By that time Adler had taken a break from teaching and, while his wife continued her work, he stayed home, took care of Michael, and began a full-time writing career.

Adler's son, Michael S. Adler, is now the co-author of several books with his father, including A Picture Book of Sam Adams, A Picture Book of John Hancock, and A Picture Book of James and Dolly Madison. Another son, Edward, was the inspiration for Adler's Andy Russell series, with the events described in the series loosely based on adventures the Adler family had with Edward's enthusiasm and his pets.

As of November 2008, Adler has three sons and two grandsons. He lives in Woodmere, New York.

(source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Mariah Roze · Rating 4 out of 5]

My students really enjoyed this book! It lead to some amazing conversations about Martin Luther King Jr. This book went through his whole life.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1989, this picture-book biography of Civil Rights leader and American hero Martin Luther King, Jr. covers all of the major events of his life, from his birth in 1929 to his tragic death by assassination, in 1968. His childhood, in which he learned of the injustices of racial segregation, his education and marriage, and his actions as one of the most visible leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, are all covered. The book concludes with a timeline of King's life...

A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. is the second entry in author David A. Adler's massive forty-volume Picture Book Biographies series that I have read, following upon A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus . It pairs a simple but informative text from Adler with what look like watercolor illustrations from Robert Casilla, who also worked on a number of other entries in the series. Although I wouldn't describe it as an outstanding example of picture-book biography, it accomplishes its purpose, and would make an excellent first introduction to its subject matter, for younger children. Because it covers King's entire life, it could be paired with books about specific topics, such as Christine King Farris' My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , about MLK's childhood, or Barry Wittenstein's A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation , which addresses his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. Any or all of these books would make a much better choice than the popular but flawed Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , from Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier. Recommended to picture-book readers who enjoy biography, or are interested in MLK, as well as to teachers planning a primary school unit on the King and/or the Civil Rights Movement.

[Rehan Abd Jamil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book every kid should read..

[Luisa Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the life and beliefs of MLK Jr.

I especially liked the inclusion of the quote "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." A great quote for children to hear and one which, unfortunately, is not always quoted in its entirety.

Ages: 4 - 10

Cleanliness: a picture of King dead (no blood and not graphic).

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[Hye Won · Rating 5 out of 5]

The biography of Martin Luther King, Jr is one of the stories that people need to read and know at least once in their life. He is a great civil rights activist, and the reason I want my students read this book and the similar story which is about Rosa Parks is because the two people are related during the era of segregation of the black and the white. I see the relationship between Martin Luther King, Jr and Rosa Parks in the book because it shows lots of common places, words, racism and historical events. This book is also helpful for young age readers and beginning readers as the book includes lots of pictures that support readers' comprehension skills to fully understand the texts. It is a nonfiction book, so it can be used as an informational text which can support the knowledge from fictional books with the common topic.

[Sadie-Jane Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great way to introduce this man to kids... what he stood for, his push factors for wanting to gain equality, and the fact that he wanted to fight with love versus hate..

[Candi Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

the third grade students I taught today loved this biography of MLK JR. I liked how it had a combination of information on him and the civil rights movement.

[Ch_hayley Medsker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brief, illustrated, biography of the Baptist minister and Civil Rights leader by David Adler. This is one of many in Adler's series to inform and enlighten young readers in a direct and easy-to-read manner. I have this book on cd and multiple copies, as to support a reading group or supplement content learning. MLK Jr's philosophy and practice of nonviolence and civil obedience helped American black win the struggle for equality during the mid 1900’s. This biography and story of a notebale man's life will interest and intrigue early readers, with the assistance of well illustrated pictures. Connections can be made from many students with MLK Jr. and his inspiring words. Many young readers will identify with the themes in these books and enjoys the powerful messages. This book supplements the social studies curriculum, or when studying people who made a difference in the United States and the world. The vocabulary might offer a challenge, but it's a great informative text to teach raw facts, new concepts, and have rich discussions about a very influential man.

[Sawyer Dombrowski]

This was a children's picture book about Martin Luther King Junior. It took us on his life journey from when he was a kid, all the way until he was an adult. It spoke about his schooling, his wife, his kids, people protesting against him, Rosa Parks, winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and more. The pictures looked like they were paintings. They were very visually appealing and seemed realistic to what the people looked like in real life (according to pictures on the internet). As for the non-fiction portion, this was definitely a history based non-fiction book. Children are able to get a glimpse people, places, and events of the past and better understand factors that shaped the past according to the book. The illustrations help enrich the text and work well to make the passages more meaningful. I think this is a good example of factual non-fiction and interpretive non-fiction. There are a lot of straight-forward facts throughout the book that teach us about MLK Jr. But, it also takes us on a journey and helps us experience what he's going through.

[Kali Guest]

This books covers the life of Martin Luther King Jr. This story shows his early childhood, and encompassed the idea of being a civil rights leader, and how he was discriminated against as a child. I like the way this story included the telling of how African Americans had come to the United States and how they were freed from slavery. It continued on with the stories of his peaceful leadership and protest of white only facilities. This story shares nonfiction features such as factual information of his life, this book is also falls into the category of factual nonfiction. The structure of the story is laid out in an appealing and accessible way with watercolor images on each page, engaging the reader. In this particular story, the images play a large role in depicting the story. The realistic images of Martin Luther King Jr. allow children to witness firsthand what scenes in that day and age looked like, and further deepen their understanding for the movement of peaceful protesting.

[Kayla Reents]

A picture book of Martin Luther King Jr is simply what it sounds like. It tells of the life of Martin Luther King Jr and his journey to become the famous person he is today. It begins with his childhood; telling of Martin's likes, dislikes, and habits. Showing his childhood makes it easier for children to find commonalities in it.
This story is similar to a bibliography. The visuals seem to be watercolor paintings and bring the story to life. The text is more factual than a storyline. It does not include index, glossary, or reference page, but appears more like a typical picture book. The information in dead on authentic and accurate and displays the information of such a hard time in America beautifully without going into too much detail on the tragedies that some people had to undergo.

[Ashley Lopez]

A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr is an introduction into what MLK did for equal rights. The story first went to discuss how Martin grew up in a community of segregated whites and blacks where he soon fought to obtain equal rights. The book discussed up until his greatest accomplishments of leading the biggest march in Washington DC and receiving the Noble Peace Prize.

The book informed children about of their history. Although the book did not discuss MLK's journey all the way to his death it described all his accomplishments. The book contained a part of his speech which is very powerful and moving. It also discussed how important the Noble Peace Prize is, it was emphasized "one of the greatest honors any person can win". The book is successful in teaching history.

[SJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book introduces the reader Martin Luther King Jr. It follows his early days as a child and discusses Martin’s first encounter with segregation and racism. The story also provides details about Martin Luther King Jr.’s education, work, and life. Martin Luther King Jr.’s importance in history is portrayed through this book.

This short picture book biography covers some of the crucial events in Martin Luther King Jr’s life. It introduces the reader to some of the important historical issues and challenges he faced. The watercolor illustrations provide a good representation of Martin showing him as the leader he was and the inspiration he continues to be today.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historic picture book goes over the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr. Along with historic facts of Martin Luther King Jr. there are also illustrations of actual pictures from those historic times. The book explains how things were for African Americans back in those times and all of the oppression they had to overcome. The book then leads to how much progress we have made a nation thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. I highly recommend this picture book for teachers to read to their students, it is important for younger generations to understand what has happened in our nations past and appreciate what type of society we live in today.

[Ciara · Rating 5 out of 5]

David A. Adler, the author of this book shows all the achievements Martin Luther King Jr. has made throughout his life. The story tells a lot about Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and his accomplishments.
This book contains a truthful story line and even included Rosa Parks, which makes it into the nonfiction genre. The book was also very good at helping young children understand the culture of being a black person during this time, and the discrimination they went through, and showed King's achievements of overcoming it.

[Jessie Angle]

This books is wonderfully written as a children's non-fiction picture book. The facts are very straight forward, focuses on the largest parts of MLK's life and is a great book for kids in my opinion. A child can learn important facts needed to know and approbate and well worded for their age. I could easily see a book report and/or summary paper that can be done in an 4th grade classroom. The pictures were beautifully done with great watercolor and really showed the issues that were faced by MLK in his day and how different America was back then.

[Matthew Ciccarone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story reads as a factual nonfiction account of Martin Luther King Jr., and is a sequential tale of his life from childhood to adulthood. It contains some interpretive elements about his reactions to adversity throughout his life. There aren’t any additional organizational support tool such as an index, but a book of this short length and clarity don’t really need it. The illustrations have a very engaging and stylistic feel to them which deepens interest.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a summary of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. It is very informative and appropriate for children and the pictures are very engaging and colorful. While as an adult I know there is more to his life, I think this book does a good job of portraying the true life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a way that kids can learn about his life and the changes he helped to set in to motion.

[Melissa Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story of Martin Luther King Jr includes information about his life such as his childhood and schooling. This book also includes historical events that happened during his lifetime. This story quotes his famous "I have a dream" speech. The illustrations in this book are colorful paintings that add to the story.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction book for younger kids to learn about who Martin Luther King, Jr was..krb 1/18/16

[Suzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful biography of an inspiring leader. This book handled some tough issues and was still easy for the kids to understand. We read this in 2019 and again in 2021.

[Justine Vasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr." is an informational illustrated book by David A. Adler. The book starts out with Martins understanding of what racism was and how it affected him. The book follows him through his education, mentioning powerful African American figures at the time accompanied by Robert Casilla's wonderful water colored illustrations of the events happening and his life that followed after including his marriage and work as a pastor. It explains how Martin had white friends growing up, who he was no longer allowed to play with. The author also touches on important historical events, like the Rosa Parks Bus arrest in Montgomery, Alabama, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech, "I had A Dream" at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. It truly shows the personal and emotional trials he went through as a child and especially as an adult. The pictures were directly connected the words to the words making it a great biography for children.

This book is nonfiction because it has a topic of facts and history. While this book does take you on a journey, the facts are straightforward. For that reason, this book is a factual nonfiction. This non-fiction picture book has a topic of facts of history, and it tells of a historic event of the past through its drawings. The lines are harsh and bold to emphasize the importance of each situation, like his house being vandalized and the "white only" signs. The illustrations are demonstrated with water color media. The illustrator kept the pictures of the faces of the protester's dark with little detail; likely to portray the anger the racial inequality imposed on African Americans. Many of the shapes have angular edges to show tension. His use of the color red during important parts of the story show anger, passion, and energy. This non-fiction book is a good way to engage students in learning about such an important person in our history. This book describes Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and his journey from childhood to adulthood, and the use of the illustrations simplicity makes it easy for children to comprehend. The picture book does a great job at showing the hardship and bravery that was executed during this era, but puts a much more pleasant vibe to the pictures and wording in order for all ages to enjoy it. This is a wonderful book, and can be a great learning tool for children.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. was written by David A. Adler and illustrated by Robert Casilla. This storybook-style picture book is a nonfiction biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The story begins with information about Dr. King as a young child growing up in Atlanta, Georgia. The biography shares that he loved going to school and reading. He also loved singing at church, playing sports and bike riding with his friends. However, during Dr. King’s childhood, Atlanta, Georgia was a segregated city and as he got older, some of his white friends no longer wanted to play with him. Dr. King was bewildered why their friendship would end and his mother explained to him the history of slavery and segregation in the United States. The tale continues on as Dr. King grows older and shares information about his postsecondary education and activism. The biography informs readers about Dr. King’s leadership of the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott following Rosa Park’s courageous refusal to give up her seat, his role in ending segregation, and concludes with his reception of the Nobel Peace Prize.


A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. is a brief, but wonderful introduction to the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Although this book falls into the category of factual nonfiction, Adler’s narrative writing style makes the biography read like a story. In addition, Casilla’s water color drawings are realistic and closely resemble real photographs of historical events such as Dr. King’s deliverance of the ‘I Have A Dream Speech’. Combined, the dialogue and illustrations give the readers the sense that they can easily relate to Dr. King. In addition, the language and drawings do a great job of representing what segregation was like through pictures of “Whites Only” signs and background information about racism. However, both the drawings and the text steer clear of violence (including Dr. King's arrests and murder) and derogatory language (such as racial slurs) which may be too aggressive for young children.


I highly recommend this book for early elementary school-aged children. It’s an excellent introduction to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and handles the serious issues of discrimination and segregation in a manner that is appropriate for young children to comprehend. Five stars!

[Elizabeth Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This non-fiction picture book is about one of America's greatest leaders: Martin Luther King Jr. It starts out discussing his early life by describing his family and favorite pastimes. His first real experience with racism and oppression was when he was not allowed to play baseball with his friend, who was white. It goes into more detail about his life growing up and being inspired by black leaders. After graduating college, he married his wife Coretta King Scott. As an adult, he wanted to do something to stop oppression. He lead peaceful protests against "white only" areas and also lead many marches, including the March on Washington where he gave his "I have a dream" speech. He eventually won the Nobel Peace Prize and laws against blacks started to change.

Adler did a great job writing this narrative-style biography that included very realistic and vivid illustrations. The pastel watercolor images of MLK Jr. as well as other historical figures mentioned in the book look just like the pictures children see in history books and documentaries. They work directly with the text to create meaning. For example, when Adler discusses how there were “white only” signs everywhere MLK Jr. went, we see an illustration of the silhouettes of children playing with a “white only” sign as the main focus. The book’s narrative style allows readers to see MLK Jr.’s life as a story rather than just a bunch of information and they can learn about the affects of racism during the civil rights movement. Adler uses simplistic language in a matter-of-fact tone to describe the sequential journey of MLK Jr.’s achievements such as “At college, Martin decided to become a minister.” MLK Jr.’s “character” is developed through Adler’s descriptions of the challenges he was faced with and how he grew from them.

[Mackenzie DuVall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this novel! Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was and is a very influential part of our society. He is someone that is still studied and learned about in schools. This book is basically a life story of Martin Luther King. It begins with telling about Martin's birth and hometown. When Martin is a little older, he wants to play with a group of boys, but is turned down. They say they cannot play with him because of the color of his skin. Martin doesn't understand why his being black makes any difference in who he associates with. His entire town became a whites vs. black town, where there was segregation everywhere. Rules were different for those that we African American and they were treated very poorly. Martin grew up in this type of town, but knew that he wanted to make a change. As he got older, Martin got into politics and became a very influential public speaker. He once gave his famous, "I Have a Dream" speech that is still discussed today. After giving this speech and trying to make changes, Martin Luther King was assassinated. Although he is no longer with us, Dr. King made a huge impact in history and started the process towards equal rights for all.

I think this book is a great way to teach younger children about a very important person in history. The book starts off by discussing Martin Luther King Jr.'s background, which is very interesting. The book is just like watching a documentary about this amazing man. It is all true and factual, but the author turned it into a novel that tells more of a story. Teaching today's children about the past opens up a lot of opportunities for learning. The plot of this story was different than a lot of others because it was based upon a true story. All of the characters were actually real and everything actually did happen. Overall, this novel was amazing and I would definitely recommend it to others!

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the real life story of Martin Luther King Junior. It addresses facts from his childhood all the way through adulthood. It covers his hobbies, marriage, family, protests, speeches, and an array of categories that allows the reader to know him better.

This book falls into the category of factual nonfiction, since most of the things mentioned don’t fall into interpretive formats. It seems to be written in a narrative style with careful pacing. It’s appealing to the reader since it’s not too short and not too long and has a good pace and good information. I would say the style of it is picture-related. The author uses large pictures and colorful, descriptive ones to draw the reader in. This is a biography book, in which the children learn how Martin Luther King Junior helped shape our world today.

The paintings are watercolor and cut paper illustrations. The character in the picture does look like Martin Luther King Jr, which is an important aspect of biographies, to display reality as much as possible. Another aspect of biographies is to include a variety of elements that describe the person such as personality, acts, words they have said and family life. The settings seem familiar and realistic such as park, houses, buses and people. It has realistic elements to it, making the reader feel as if we are there and the facial expressions convey the emotion of the circumstance in the book. The lines are semi bold and the shade is heavy, emphasizing the pictures and the scene. The shading is heavier on sad scenes such as the one of young Martin Luther King Junior crying on his mom’s shoulder because he doesn’t understand why people treat others differently based on their skin color. The darker shading draws attention to the facial expressions and indicates gloominess.

[Mary Vial · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr. written by David A. Adler is a biography on Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and influence. This book goes through the entirety of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and how his life was seen as a beacon of hope for change for people all around the world. MLKJ spoke out against laws that kept black people out of jobs, schools, and other public establishments and stressed the importance of peace over violence. In the book, MLKJ states, "We must meet hate with love" after a bomb was thrown into his home to encourage his supporters to always choose peace instead of violence. MLKJ experienced racism and prejudice throughout his entire life, but always fought to keep peace and love at the forefront of every movement he was involved in. I would implement this book in a 3rd or 4th-grade classroom. I would read this book aloud to my students as a whole class, and then have them complete a graphic organizer. This graphic organizer will be a bubble map, where students will have to pull information out of the book to fill in details about MLKJ's life and influence in society today. I would also read aloud a specific page from the book that discusses MLKJ's I Have A Dream speech, and then have students write their own speeches about changes they would like to see in the world. This book was a Wow Book for me because of all the important details that are provided about Martin Luther King Jr. This story focuses on the inspiration and influence that MLKJ provided to people, rather than the challenging things he struggled through during his life. This book works to connect MLKJ's influence in the past, to what we may see today in society. I loved this book and cannot wait to implement it into my classroom!

[Samantha Freeman]

Original Summary: This story takes you through the life events and details of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life. From boyhood, up until the point that he dies, the book paints the picture of what Martin Luther King Jr. did while standing up for what he believes in: equal rights for blacks and whites. At the end, children have an understanding of the important things that took place during his life.

Original Review: I liked where this book takes the reader. All of the information presented in the book is accurate, and can begin to teach children the importance of fighting for something that you believe in, even if everyone else believes differently. Children can also use the content in this book to learn more about the history of segregation and how Martin Luther King Jr. helped to change the country's look on African Americans.

Other books to pair with/connect to: A Picture Book of Rosa Parks by David A. Adler would be a perfect companion to this text. This shows students two different perspectives during the Civil Right movement and what Rosa and Martin Luther King Jr. did in order to help the Civil Rights movement gets to where we are today.

Quote: "He was a powerful speaker, and he spoke out against laws which kept black people out of many schools and jobs. He led protests and marches demanding fair laws for all people." This is a great way to get students thinking about the injustices that African American people faced in the early to mid 1900's. Student can have a discussion about what happened, why it happened, and ways in which we can be proactive today to continue stopping this from eve happening again.

[Ben Truong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. is a children's picture book written by David A. Adler and illustrated by Robert Casilla. It is wonderful biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. As today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day (20 January), I thought it would be apropos to read this book.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Christian minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, King is best known for advancing civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi.

Adler's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. The narrative sufficiently covered the life and times of Martin Luther King, Jr., albeit a tad too dry at some points. A list of important dates could be found in the backmatter. Casilla's evocative watercolor paintings were beautifully rendered and expanded the text while celebrating the man.

The premise of the book is rather straightforward. King's life is presented with an emphasis on his childhood and family. Readers will immediately relate to his painful early experiences of racism and understand the genesis of his lifelong struggle for racial equality. The book portrays the hatred King endured, the horror of his assassination and the intense power of his message.

All in all, A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. is a wonderful, albeit cursory biography of one of the most influential activist in modern times – Martin Luther King Jr.

[Melissa Bray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a great background on Martin Luther King Jr.’s journey from childhood to his greatest victory, the March on Washington. It explains how Martin had white friends growing up, who he was no longer allowed to play with. He cried, and that moment started his revolution and passion for equality. Martin then went to college, became a minister, married his wife, had four children, and did great things amongst his community and for the entire nation.
The non-fiction organizational pattern of this story was somewhat of a cause and effect structure. This pattern shows how events, facts, or ideas occur as a result of other events, facts, or concepts. Visuals take many forms, including photographs, paintings, drawings, charts, diagrams, graphs, maps, and copies of documents, as well as the captions that may accompany these features. These visuals play such an important role in informational books that they must be as carefully researched as text. They can help to clarify abstract concepts; they can convey specific facts and clarify specialized vocabulary, or they can present a realistic rendering of a concept. They can also help to provide the background knowledge necessary for readers’ understanding (Temple, 2015). This story contains beautiful, realistic images that add immense detail to the book.

Temple, C. A. (2015). Children's Books in Children's Hands, 5th Edition. [BryteWave]. Retrieved from https://shelf.brytewave.com/#/books/9...