“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
image from Wikipedia
To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 20th, I thought I would compile my previous posts on MLK Day and the Civil Rights Movement. I hope these lists will be helpful if you are looking for a children’s book to celebrate MLK Day or Black History Month in February.
Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. with 3 Children’s Books
If you need just three books, I’ve chosen my favorite picture book, advanced picture book, and chapter book to tell the story of civil rights from three points of view. The great man himself in his own words. Ruby Bridge’s story is told by her child psychologist Dr. Robert Coles. And through the point of view of a Caucasian girl trying to figure out what was going on when her town pool closed to avoid desegregation.
Top 10: Best Children’s Books On Civil Rights Movement
This list has many genres from Young Adult to nonfiction covering the Civil Rights Movement for kids.
Best Children’s Books on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Brotherhood by Ann Westrick is a new addition to this list and tells the story of the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.
The year is 1867, the South has been defeated, and the American Civil War is over. But the conflict goes on. Yankees now patrol the streets of Richmond, Virginia, and its citizens, both black and white, are struggling to redefine their roles and relationships. By day, fourteen-year-old Shadrach apprentices with a tailor and sneaks off for reading lessons with Rachel, a freed slave, at her school for African-American children. By night he follows his older brother Jeremiah to the meetings of a group whose stated mission is to protect Confederate widows like their mother. But as the true murderous intentions of the group, now known as the Ku Klux Klan, are revealed, Shad finds himself trapped between old loyalties and what he knows is right.
Civil Rights for Kids Picture Book of the Day
It was an honor and a privilege to welcome Ruby Bridges to our elementary school! Her school visit both mesmerized the kids and inspired them that one kid can make a difference. This message is true as well in another civil rights story captured in As Fast As Words Could Fly.
Civil Rights Icon Ruby Bridges visits our elementary school!
Picture Book of the Day: Booker T Washington
I’ve heard of Booker T. Washington but I didn’t know much about his childhood and the adversity he overcame to get an education.
Top 10: African-American Picture Books
This picture book list tells the story of the African American experience if you read the books in order from 1 to 10. It starts with Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt and slavery and ends with modern times in Amazing Grace.
What are your favorite children’s books to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Black History Month? Please share and I’ll add your books and posts to mine! Thanks so much!
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My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- ⭐ Starred review from School Library Journal!
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- dPICTUS 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Nautilus Silver Winner, Nonfiction Children’s Picture Book
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
I love these books. It\’s so nice to know that there are so many quality books about such an important subject. I love your chapter book selections for civil rights, too.
Thanks so much Erica! I really like your picture book civil rights book list! It’s amazing how many angles the Civil Rights covers and so it totally makes sense! I going to try to work my way though your list!
Great listing and valuable resource for classroom teachers.
Thanks so much Barbara!
Erica’s list is fantastic! I also subscribe to her blog.
Anything by Andrea Davis Pinkney (and her illustrator husband) is ideal for MLK Day, but her Sit In is one of my favorites.
And for older kids, Christopher Paul Curtis’s The Watsons Go to Birmingham and Philip Hoose’s work of nonfiction Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice is also very moving and a true account of a teenager who refused to move on the bus pre-Rosa Parks.
Hi Maria,
Thanks so much for your great book suggestions. I’m adding them to my Best Books for MLK Day list!
Great recommendations. I think Ruby Bridges is an incredible woman, and I love that she uses her story to inspire kids to make a difference.
Hi MaryAnne,
Ruby Bridges said that her dream was to to start a charter school. I think she would make an incredible teacher but she wasn’t able to go to college to get the training she needed. I would love to see her dream come true though!
I agree that she would make a fantastic teacher. I would love to see her dream come true.
Hi MaryAnne,
Me too!! She never had the chance to go college because of finances but she’s spent her whole life teaching kids. Surely that must count?!
I forgot to add Kristin Levine’s The Lions of Little Rock–great story of friendship and brings the strife of the time to life.
Hi Maria,
We think alike! I just added it because my daughter, PickyKidPix, raved about it!
Great post – and timely too! Thanks for sharing this with the Kid Lit Blog Hop!
Thanks Katie!
Always appreciate these lists. Great resources and reminder to take time to teach our children about this incredibly important movement!
Thank you so much Damien. I had so many partial lists that I thought I would put them all in one post.
Nice list Mia!We recently read Martin and Mahalia and loved it!
Thanks for sharing on Kidlit Blog Hop!
-Reshama @ Stackingbooks
Thanks so much for hosting the KidLit Blog Hop Reshama and for your kind words!
Even though we’re in Australia I love seeing all of the MLK day info and so mnay great resources to celebrate such an important man in history. Thanks for sharing these great books – we’ll definitely be tracking some of these down.
Hi Just for Daisy,
I’m so glad that MLK Day is still relevant to those outside the United States.
Excellent books to celebrate a great man. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much Stacie. I’m going to try to keep adding too!
I really liked As Fast As Words Could Fly, and recently daughter mentioned something from it even though we read it a few months ago. I am glad that books like this make a lasting impact.
Hi Natalie,
I loved As Fast As Words Could Fly too! It’s a lesser known but equally important story of a child who stood up and made a difference in the fight for civil rights. I think those lesser known stories are inspirational because it lets kids know that you don’t have to be famous to make a difference. An ordinary kid like themselves have that same ability.
A great collection of books to honor a great man! Thanks for sharing at After School!
I’m glad you like the list Stephanie. Thanks for hosting After School!
I loved learning about Booker T. Washington. What a great man. There have been a lot of greats! Thank you so much for sharing this list. There are some really fantastic book recommendations here.
Hi Lisa,
I’m so glad you liked the lists!! I really loved learning about the young Booker T. Washington!