Martin Luther King, Jr.: Young Man with a Dream

by Dharathula H. Millender

Get to know the famous social activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King Jr. in this middle grade nonfiction biography of his early years!

Martin Luther King Jr. was born into a family of pastors. He had close relationships with his family, especially his grandmother, and regularly sang at church with his mother. Martin saw everyone around him suffer from segregation and racism and would eventually fight back with his powerful speeches and peaceful protests as one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.

This book is laced with numerous illustrations, and the back of the book includes a timeline, questions, activities, and a glossary, making it the perfect addition to a classroom or home school setting. Perfect for emerging readers, the Childhood of Famous Americans series illustrates the incredible true stories of great Americans.

Genres: Biography, History, Childrens, Nonfiction, Chapter Books

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Dharathula H. Millender was a teacher and school librarian. She is the author of several books, including biographies of the young Crispus Attucks, Louis Armstrong, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reviews

[Luisa Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for introducing and teaching children about slavery, the Restoration, segregation and the fight for equality.

This book has a heavier focus on King’s younger years and the character traits he developed. The final chapters explain his work, various marches and his death.

I appreciated how informative this book was, explaining and detailing several events that other children’s books about King don’t always go into.

Ages: 7 - 12

Cleanliness: mentions some bombings and some children being killed by them. Mentions some police dogs attacking some children. A man is shot. The word Negro is used throughout the book and the word “n*gger” appears once.

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[Rodger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple biography of Martin Luther King Jr. It was interesting to progress through time from his grandparents post Civil War to his birth in the great depression up to the 1960s. There was so much beyond emancipation from slavery before African Americans could have freedoms that white Americans had. In the latter part of the book, it felt almost unreal how much opposition there was. I really like that they planned marches by emphasizing to the participants that they be nonviolent in order to be heard. It said that people forgot that sometimes.

Content considerations: violence.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book and I learned a lot more about MLK than I thought I would.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot of new fact about Martin Luther King Jr especially more about his childhood. I realized I never knew that much about his childhood. The drawings was great.

[Daniel Quiroz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book because he was a great leader and i learned more.He was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, His birth name was actually Michael King.He went to Booker T Washington High school, then in college he went to Morehouse college a nice college.He was a Christian Minister which is cool.In 1963 he made his famous speech in Wasington D.C.In 1968 King got assasinated it was sad.He also got his own day called Martin Luther king Jr day.Today he is remembered to be one of the best men ever to be alive.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful example of always standing up for what's right...his father really led the way, even when it wasn't easy.

[Alexis Pratt]

I LEARNED THAT HE WAS A GREAT CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 813 EN Nonfiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 6.7 - AR Pts: 4.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP

[Michelle Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked that they went into King's childhood more than other biographies, but I didn't like all the fictionalized parts. They felt made up and like they just didn't go with the story at all.

[Imani ♥ ☮ · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. But it seemed like a bit of a sugarcoat to King's childhood.

[Colin Weiss]

i enjoyed it