Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library suggests titles to honor Martin Luther King Day

written by Guest Blogger January 17, 2022

By Maeve Dodds, University City Regional Library

While we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, it’s important to remember his achievements with the civil rights movement all year. MLK was known for many things. Here are some books to share with children about his work, life, accepting of others and why people of all colors matter.

All Because You Matter by Tami Charles is a beautifully written book reminding black and brown children everywhere that they matter. Charles’ writing brings power and meaning to the word “matter.” Bryan Collier’s illustrations are vibrant, moving, and captivating and match wonderfully with the text. This book is something families can enjoy together with children of all ages. It’s a powerful way to open important conversations with children and makes them understand that they matter.

It’s Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 and Monica Clark-Robinson tells the tale of children and teenagers marching against segregation under the guidance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In, Let the Children March, readers see the bravery children faced as they marched against hate and laws that kept black people separate from white people. This book was also a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book in 2019 and can be shared with all elementary aged students.

Written by Barry Wittenstein and illustrated by five-time Caldecott Honor books and one Caldecott Medal winner, Jerry Pinkney, A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation, shares a behind the scenes look at how King wrote his famous speech, “I Have a Dream.” The illustrations are beautiful, bold, yet muted, and match perfectly with the importance of the text. This is a great book for older elementary aged children, second to fifth grade, to read at home with parents or in a classroom setting.

In All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold we see a story about a group of children in school of all different races and nationalities play, learn, and share together. Its simple text and spunky illustrations, by Suzanne Kaufman, share with young children that all are welcome in school and in their classrooms. This is a great picture book to share with younger children in preschool up to first grade.

Lastly, is a children’s biography from the Little People, Big Dreams series, simply titled Martin Luther King Jr. by Ma Isabel Sánchez Vegara. This biography starts with King as a child living with his family where his father, uncle, and grandfather were all preachers. The reader travels through his life learning more about King; his life story is accompanied by illustrations and timeline in the back of the book. This is an inspiring series and adding King to it was a must. All children second grade through fifth would enjoy this read.