The Illinois School Library Media Association Presents

Martin's Big Words

Read About the Book

Rappaport, Doreen. Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr; illus. by Bryan Collier. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2001.

Looks at the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, explaining his work to bring about a peaceful end to segregation. Includes bibliographical references (p. 34).

1 v. (unpaged): col. ill. ; 29 cm. ISBN: 0786807148 (trade); 078682591X (library); LCCN: 00-40957. Picture Book; Dewey: 323/.092; B / RL: 6.1 Follett), 3.4 (AR).

Read Aloud, Read Along

For Teachers and Librarians

Martin's Big Words was a Caldecott Honor Book in 2002.

n Lesson to Use With Martin's Big Words from Read.Write.Think (Grades 3-5)

n Ruby Bridges

Bridges, Ruby. Through My Eyes. Scholastic, 1999. (-379.2-) RL 6.2 Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her involvement, as a six-year-old, in the integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960.

Cole, Robert. The Story of Ruby Bridges. Scholastic, 1995. (-379.2-) RL 5.4 For months six-year-old Ruby Bridges must confront the hostility of white parents when she becomes the first African American girl to integrate Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960.

Read About the Author & Illustrator

Author: Doreen Rappaport (Click to Read a Biographical Sketch)

Doreen Rappaport Website

Photograph used with permission of the author.

Illustrator: Bryan Collier

n Introducing Illustrators: Bryan Collier

n Read an Interview with Bryan Collier

n Biographical information and more about his books from childrenslit.com

Read Alone

For Students: African American Heritage

Ringgold, Faith. Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky Crown, 1995, c1992. (-E-) RL 4.7 With Harriet Tubman as her guide, Cassie retraces the steps escaping slaves took on the Underground Railroad in order to reunite with her younger brother.

Ringgold, Faith. Dinner at Aunt Connie's House Hyperion Paperbacks for Children, 1996, c1993.(-E-) RL 5.8 Dinner at Aunt Connie's is even more special than usual when Melody meets not only her new adopted cousin but twelve inspiring African-American women, who step out of their portraits and join the family for dinner. "From their frames on the wall, the pictured women tell of their devotion to civil rights (Rosa Parks and Fannie Loe Hamer, education (Mary McCloud Bethune), literature (Zora Neale Hurston) and other causes and professions."

Parks, Rosa. I am Rosa Parks; with Jim Haskins. Puffin, 2000, c1997. (-976.1-) RL 2.8 The black woman whose acts of civil disobedience led to the 1956 Supreme Court order to desegregate buses in Montgomery, Alabama, explains what she did and why.