My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Martin Luther King III, AG Ford (Illustrator)

Overview

What was it like growing up as a son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? This picture book memoir, My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King III, provides insight into one of history’s most fascinating families and into a special bond between father and son. 

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Martin Luther King III was one of those four little children mentioned in Martin Luther King’s groundbreaking “I Have a Dream” speech. In this memoir, Martin Luther King Jr.’s son gives an intimate look at the man and the father behind the civil rights leader. Mr. King’s remembrances show both his warm, loving family and a momentous time in American history.

AG Ford is the illustrator of several other books for children, including the New York Times bestselling Barack. He is the recipient of an NAACP Image Award.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060280758
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/06/2013
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	430,651
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	AD620L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Martin Luther King III is the elder son of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. He is a human rights advocate and community activist. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Arndrea, and his daughter, Yolanda Renee.

AG Ford is a New York Times bestselling artist and recipient of two NAACP Image Awards, and has illustrated more than thirty books for children, including picture books by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sharon Robinson, Ilyasah Shabazz, Martin Luther King III, Nick Cannon, Jonah Winter, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and many others. He grew up in Dallas and attended the Columbus College of Art and Design, and now lives in Frisco, Texas, with his wife, Brandy, and their two sons, Maddox and Carter.

Editorial Reviews

There have been a lot of books written about my father. But not a whole lot has been written about my dad,” explains King, the second of four children of the civil rights leader. Personal anecdotes appear throughout this picture book biography, demonstrating how King’s activism at times took a toll on his family. A trip to an amusement park is repeatedly deferred (“Finally my mother explained. We were not allowed in Funtown”), a young Martin is nervous about letting other kids know who his father is, and he’s viscerally upset when his father is repeatedly arrested, consoling his older sister after being comforted by their mother. Readers get a sense of King’s reputation and goals amid the family stories; in an especially powerful anecdote, King describes burning toy guns in a backyard bonfire. “Nonviolence wasn’t just for marches and protests,” he writes. “It was for home as well.” Though occasionally somewhat posed, Ford’s oil-and-acrylic paintings depict both the likenesses of the King family and the close-knit bond that saw them through many dark moments. Ages 4–8. Illustrator’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

His oldest son remembers the civil rights leader with affection and pride. Called Marty as a child, Martin Luther King III spent his childhood learning difficult lessons about segregation, jail and protest marches. He and his sister were eager to go to an amusement park until their parents finally told them that it was only for white people. When he and his brother received toy guns for Christmas, they were told that guns are destructive weapons and watched as their parents burnt them in a bonfire. In the third grade, the author reluctantly integrated a school and faced taunts, relatively mild in the book, as the only African-American in his class. As importantly, Dr. King was a loving and playful father to his children. Adults sharing this title with young readers can make a connection between the words of Dr. King's landmark "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28th, 1963, and their own family memories. Ford's full-page color paintings bring to mind photographs of the period in their depiction of family scenes and civil rights marches. Final art not seen. An effective title to introduce young readers to Dr. King's message of peace and equal rights; though it's hardly the only picture book about the slain leader, the child's-eye view is a valuable one. (afterword) (Picture book/biography 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews