MLK Day Top 10 Books

by admin on January 15, 2010

African-Americans suffered disproportionately (and still do) by racist attitudes and actions. But the civil rights movement is no more owned by African-Americans than Holocaust resistance was owned by Jews or suffrage was owned by women. Injustice, suffered anywhere, affects all those who touch it, fight it, comply with it, or blatantly promote it.

Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month give parents a chance to break the cycle of history repeating by looking through the window of how African-Americans suffered, fought and eventually broke through barriers.

Books chosen stood out in these four areas:

Encourage empathy for victims of racism in single-digit kids
A compelling story with an engaging narrative flow
Inspire courage and empowerment in single-digit kids by demonstrating how individuals can make a profound difference in society.
Promote peace and justice using non-violent means.

	Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down 2010 is the 50th anniversary of when four brave college boys (the “Greensboro Four”) calmly and peaceably asked for a donut and coffee, with cream on the side at the Whites Only Woolworth’s lunch counter. By sticking to that simple message and using strong colors with illustrations that contrast the tranquility and conviction of the students with the abstract hatred of their prosecutors, the point is clearly.
	Our Children Can Soar We LOVED this book. Using one simple sentence, the author demonstrates how each person’s courage lays the foundation for the future generations accomplishments. An excellent book to use any time of year.
	Marching For Freedom For 7+, the story of how African-Americans won the right to vote focusing on how children helping make it happen.
	Busing Brewster The collage illustrations give the book away: this succeeds in making a tough topic–school integration–much less intimidating to younger kids, by using charming illustrations that lower the readers guard. The story is equally upbeat and optimistic–leaving only hints of deeper issue adults can ignore or explore, depending upon their kids ages and proclivities.
	Child of the Civil Rights Movement Gently subverts the authority paradigm by revealing civil rights leaders for what they were to one of their children: real people who were just doing what they believed was right. Rarely do kids get as good an opportunity to internalize that people like MLK, Dorothy Cotton, Andrew Young and others played in pools, ate too much at holidays, and also happened to lead marches to end segregation.
	This is the Dream If Dr. Seuss covered the civil rights movement, he might have written this book. A simple rhyme and easy meter rhythm juxtaposed with a collage of famous moments and people. Once again, this gives adults the flexibiity to delve to the depth they are comfortable–and is a verbally compelling introduction for even the youngest kids.
	Frederick Douglass: Young Defender of Human Rights Of all the biographies received, the Young Patriot Series was the most engaging and well-told for single digit kids. Through anecdotes and everyday actions, kids can see how Frederick Douglass lived and eventually paved the way for the civil rights movement
	Mama Miti A simply told story, boiled down to the bare essence, about how one woman and trees can solve virtually any problem–great or small. Notable: Wangari Maathai, Mama Miti, was the first African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize (2004).
	Black Magic Right for the youngest kids up to early readers, being black is appreciated through different sensations anyone can relate to. Working from concrete to slightly abstract, black is first items and then emotions. “Black is loud like my best tap shoes . . . Black is delicious like the deepest, darkest chocolate that melts in my mouth…and Mama’s voice is black and sweet as I fall asleep.”
_	Five Bold Freedom Fighters Dramatizations of five African-Americans (three women!) that forced social reform in a read-it-yourself novel.
_	Harlem A cross between Ellis Island and Eden, Harlem is personified in a thousand small vignettes laden with emotional weight. This is an approach to civil rights, slavery, African-American history and culture seen through sensation: “A huddle of horns and a tinkle of glass, a note Handed down from Marcus to Malcolm to a brother Too Bad and too cool to give his name.”