Book Review: A Pace to Land- Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation

 


1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wittenstein, B., & Pinkney, J. (2019). A place to land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the speech that inspired a nation. Neal Porter Books.

ISBN: 978-0823443314

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Much has been written about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1963 March on Washington. But there's little on his legendary speech and how he came to write it.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was once asked if the hardest part of preaching was knowing where to begin. No, he said. The hardest part is knowing where to end. "It's terrible to be circling up there without a place to land."
Finding this place to land was what Martin Luther King, Jr. struggled with, alongside advisors and fellow speech writers, in the Willard Hotel the night before the March on Washington, where he gave his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. But those famous words were never intended to be heard on that day, not even written down for that day, not even once.

3.CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This book is a must read! Little has been written about King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and this book outlines the writing process of the speech using a timeline format. The book is loaded with dialogue for the brainstorming process and really helps readers understand how the famous speech came to be. The illustrations are also magnificent. They help tell the story and highlight some of the key event during the historical time period such as “civil rights” and “equality” The illustrations help shine light the civil movement during that time period and how much people wanted change. I think the writing and illustrations accurately depicted the African American culture. For example, the illustrations accurately showed the general environment, skin tones, and facial features of this culture, and the text described accurate information of this important movement.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

- An ALA Notable Children's Book
- A Capitol Choices Noteworthy Title
- Nominated for an NAACP Image Award
- A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
- A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
- A Booklist Editors' Choice
- Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and School Library Journal

Starred review in The Horns Book: "The urgency of the text, underscored by boldface type marking the relentless passing of the hours, is complemented beautifully by Pinkney's more contemplative art. . . . This is essential American history, distilled into one of the most powerful picture books of the year."

Starred review in Kirkus: "Wittenstein's free-verse narrative perfectly captures the tension leading up to the speech as each adviser urged his own ideas while remaining a supportive community. Pinkney's trademark illustrations dramatize this and the speech, adding power and further illuminating the sense of historical importance. Gives readers a fresh and thrilling sense of what it took to make history."

Starred review in Publisher’s Weekly:  "Wittenstein's riveting story shows that historical moments—and movements—are not inevitable; they're shaped and changed by many hands and voices. In emphatic phrases and art alternatingly warm and tense, the creators' moving portrait of the civil rights leader in consultation with others is an invaluable addition to the shelf of King biographies."

5. CONNECTIONS

*Engage students to read another book about the life of Martin Luther King and have them compare and contrast the text.    

*Group students in small groups and have them create a timeline detailing the different events that occurred in history during the Civil Rights Movement.

* Have students analyze the “I Have a Dream” speech. What does the speech mean to them? Have them write their own speech to represent their hopes and dreams.    

*Other books about Martin Luther King Jr.

Rappaport, D., & Collier, B. (2007). Martin’s big words: The life of dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Jump at the Sun / Hyperion Paperbacks for Children.

ISBN: 978-1423106357

 

King, M. L., & Nelson, K. (2012). I have a dream: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Schwartz & Wade Books.

ISBN: 978-0375858871


Book review was written for SHSU MLA course. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: Good Night, Sleep Tight by Mem Fox

Image
  1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Fox, M., & Horacek, J. (2013). Good night, sleep tight . Scholastic Australia. ISBN: 978-0545533706 2.  PLOT SUMMARY When their favorite babysitter, Skinny Doug puts Bonnie and Ben to sleep, he begins by saying, “Good night, sleep tight” followed by classic nursery rhymes such as “It’s raining! It’s pouring! Bonnie and Ben love hearing the nursery rhymes and Skinny Doug keeps sharing more until they finally fall asleep. 3.CRITICAL ANALYSIS I loved this book! Each nursery rhyme is added into the story seamlessly! The book is full of repetition and onomatopoeia that make it easy for young kids to follow along with. Reading through this book, remined me of all favorite nursey rhymes that I grew up with. Although the characters in this book aren’t very developed, adult readers can see themselves as Skinny Doug when they retell their favorite nursery rhymes “they heard from their mother.” The illustrations are simple and fun. The colors used are also simple an...
Read more

Book Review: Kiss of Deception

Image
  1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Pearson, M. E. (2015). Kiss of deception, the . Square Fish. ISBN: 1250063159 2.  PLOT SUMMARY This Fantastic Fiction novel is about a seventeen-year-old Princess named Lia who runs away from her village on the morning of her wedding to avoid an arranged marriage. As she settles into a new town and a new life, she meets two men whom she is intrigued by. One is the Prince she was suppose to marry, who turned out to be young and handsome, and the other is an assassin who was sent to kill her. Both men present themselves with a false identity, but they know who Lia is. As time goes by, both men begin to fall in love with her and Lia begins to fall in love with one of them, but in a strange twist, their true identity isn’t revealed until near the end of the novel.    3.CRITICAL ANALYSIS Again, as mentioned before, this is my least favorite genre, but OMG!!! This book was sooooooo good!!!!!!! It has a love triangle, deception, lies, and suspense, I can...
Read more

Book Review: Everything Sad is Untrue

Image
  1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Nayeri, D. (2023). Everything sad is untrue: (a true story). Levine Querido. ISBN: 978-1646142729 2.  PLOT SUMMARY At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls 'Daniel') stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them, he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny, who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful and terrifying, from the moment he, his mother, and sister fled Iran in the middle of the night, stretching back to family tales set in the jasmine-scented city of Isfahan, the palaces of semi-ancient kings, and even the land of stories 3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS This book was an interesting read. I struggled to get through it because I had difficulty following along and found myself confused throughout the story. This novel is told from the po...
Read more