Young Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream"

by Joanne Mattern

Especially for beginning readers, this biography series has large, colorful illustrations and easy-to-read texts, focusing on the childhood years of famous men and women.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Picture Books

31 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

About the author

Mattern is the author of many books for children. Her favorite topics include animals, biography, and history. She lives in the Hudson Valley of New York State.

Reviews

[Mariah Roze]

This was a nice, short story about M.L.'s childhood and life. It was told in simple terms for children and had realistic illustrations. My students really enjoyed learning about M.L.'s father this book too :)

[Ryann Norris]

Genre: Biographical Nonfiction
Grade: k-1
I like how this book made the story of Martin Luther King Jr. an understandable and readable story for young students. I like how even though the book was made for young students it didn’t leave out any major facts and even included dates and locations. I liked how it was not just a fluffed truth and that it told the important parts of his story while also keeping the book engaging to the reader.

[Paige Hickey]

Genre: Biography
Grade Level: 1st - 2nd
This was a super easy read and gave lots of information on the early life of Martin Luther King, Jr. The author did a great job keeping is kid friendly and writes about his life making it more of a story than just straight facts. I would highly recommend this book for younger children in elementary. This would be a great book to read to learn more about this person and even to have children do a project about this person too.

[Ella Sherwood]

Biography k-2nd
This is a great book to tell the story of Martin Luther King. It is important for kids to learn about the history of America, and this book makes it really easy to read and understand a very important part of American history.

[Mandee Rayne]

Short story about Martin Luther King Jr. Quick read and good conversation starter.

[Sherry Scheline]

I love MLK books. I love clear dates. I think it is important for kids to realize that MLK was not hundreds of years ago.

[Avery Woods]

Genre: Biography
Grades: K-4
I appreciate how this book provides Martin Luther King Jr.'s life story in a child friendly manner! This would be a perfect book to integrate into the classroom when learning about Martin Luther King Jr. Overall, this book provides a great lesson to work hard and I love the watercolor illustrations!

[Natalie Ransom]

3.4 ATOS
511 L

This book depicts a young Martin Luther King Jr. before he changed a nation for the better. It talks about his father's influence, his struggles, and his belief in God along his journey.

[Leah Pileggi]

This simply written early biography is from the Troll First-Start Biography series. It introduces Martin Luther King, Jr. in a simple, straight-forward way. It follows his life, hitting the highlights (and lowlights) of his role in ending segregation.
The first page shows MLK as an adult and gives a short summary of who he was. Then the story begins when he was probably as young as some of the readers. The illustrations are richly colored in earth and skin tones. The text would work alone, but the illustrations are kid friendly and help to depict the times in which MLK grew up. It would be a great starting point for kids to 1) learn about MLK, and 2) discover that biographies can be interesting. The size of the book is perfect as is the square shape. It comes across as a book that a kid would want to keep.

[Amanda Elders]

Genre: Biography
Grade Level: Intermediate
I chose this book as one of my favorites because it clearly lays out crucial parts of Martin Luther King Jr’s life to teach students all about what a biography or autobiography should look like.
The book is all about main events that occurred in Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. It talked about the events that led his life and how he had made a huge difference in our country. Within my classroom the students would learn about the importance of Martin Luther King through this book as well as how to write autobiographies of their own lives.

[Kristin]

I really liked this book, it not only tells who MLK Jr is and how he helped his community, but it also describes how he grew up. It describes specific situations he went through. I feel this job would be beneficial to any civil rights movement unit. It is good the lower grades and for upper elementary because it gives great details and events.

[Katherine Fountain]

What a great bibliography on Dr Martin Luther King Jr! I love how this book includes background information about his early life which give students insight into how and why he become a leader for equality. This book would be a great introduction for the civil rights movement in younger grades such as kindergarten and first.

[Katie Beck]

This is a great book to read to children. It is written in language that is easy for children to understand. It is a good book to read to teach children about Martin Luther King Jr.

[Megan Rowland]

During the month of February (or anytime), when you want to intertwin subjects, reading this biography of Martin Luther King Jr. in social studies is a great way.

[Bonnie Shellhamer]

This was a nice simple book that is appropriate for all ages. My 6th grade listened intently and even learned some new things about Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Amy]

This book would be great to read around MLK Jr.'s birthday. It has wonderful facts about his life and that time period.

[Elizabeth]

AR 3.4