Martin's Big Words

This book is amazing. It is simple, yet takes your breath away. The pages hold no names, no dates, no data to obscure the main point of the book. Martin Luther King Jr. passes from child to man in course of two pages. The text is light enough for younger students to read, or be read to, but the content is so deep that even fifth and sixth graders would be intrigued by it. You can see the simplicity by the cover, which offers no title, nor the name of the author or illustrator. His character is so renowned, his face is so unforgettable, that there is no need. 

The author Doreen Rappaport intertwines her narrative with the words of Martin Luther Kings Jr's so that his words pervade the pages. She even sacrifices her text to be smaller and black, while his are larger, bolded, and in a new color on every page. She describes his words in simplistic terms, she writes: "Martin said "Love" when others said "Hate." Then reinforces this statement with a quote " Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." 

The illustrator Brian Collier used collage to illustrate the pages of this book. Rich colors fill the pages in a full bleed, while the character are strong and lifelike. The first page offers a paragraph describing the reasoning behind the illustrators motives. Many of the pictures have text that appears randomly placed, but can be analyzed for deeper meaning. For example, the windows on the bus on one page say only... life.... and ...rules. Although not a complete sentence in their isolation, the meaning leads to the fact that although white ministers, mayors, governors, police chiefs and judges told African Americans to end their peaceful protests, that all those officials really had no authority over the protesters actions. Many of the other words could be analyzed by older students as part of an activity after reading this book. 

Although the story itself lacks significant detail for fluidity, it does offer a timeline of the major events in  MLK Jr's life. It begins with his birth and marks laws that were passed and eradicated, as well as extending after his death to mark accomplishments that occurred in the wake of his influence on the civil rights movement. This book is wonderful, but I suggest you read it several times before presenting it to a class, I had to have a good cry after my first read!

This book won the Caldecott Honor, as well as the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Best illustrated Children's Book Award from the NY Times Book Review in 2001.