32. Young Martin’s promise by Walter Dean Myers

32. Young Martin’s promise by Walter Dean Myers

 


Myers, W.D. (1993). Young Martin’s promise. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn.

This is a biography about a young Martin Luther King Jr. and the segregation he faced.  When Martin was young, he and his white neighbors would play baseball together.  After they all started school, things changed.  Martin learned he would go to a black school and his friends to a white school.  This changed things.  His white friends said they can’t play baseball together anymore because they were white, and he was black.  This upset Martin.  He asked his parents about it at dinner. They explained to him about segregation.  He still didn’t understand why they all could just be friends.  The next experience with segregation happened when he and his father go shopping for some shoes downtown.  Martin and his father go into a shoe store and sit down.  The clerk said he would be happy to wait on them, but they had to move to the back of the store because that is where they serve black people.  Martin’s father got upset and they left the store.  These acts of racism helped shape Martin into the peaceful activist he became as an adult.

For social studies, I would use this book when teaching about the Civil Rights Movement.  It gives a clear, simple story for younger audiences to see how segregation affected the South.  It would also be good to use in January for Martin Luther King Day.  This would be a good book to introduce young readers to biographies.  It gives readers a look into a part of MLK’s life that lead him to his calling.  Point of view could be discussed as well.  In biographies, third person is used to tell some one’s story.  It could be compared to autobiographies where first person is often used to show the author is a part of the story. 

This must not be one of Walter Dean Myers’ more well-known books.  I could not find any teaching resources on it.   I am including the link to Walter Dean Myers’ website.

 

http://walterdeanmyers.net/


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

58. The Pot That Juan Built, by Nancy Andrews-Goebel

Image
 5 8. The Pot That Juan Built, by Nancy Andrews-Goebel Andrews-Goebel, N. (2002).  The pot that Juan built . NY: Lee & Low Books.  This is a biography about Juan Quezada of Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, Mexico.  As a child, he was fascinated by ancient potsherds he would find.  He set out to rediscover the process and materials used by the long-vanished Casas Grandes Indians to create the beautiful pottery.  Juan knew the pottery would have been made using only natural materials found in the area.  He began to experiment until he was able to create pottery like the ancient fragments.  After many years of perfecting his craft, he began to teach his family and friends the method to re-create the pottery. The result has been the transformation of his impoverished village into a thriving community of craftspeople.  Their pottery is now found in museums and art galleries around the world. The book is structured differently than most picture books...
Read more

83. I Am Neil Armstrong, by Brad Meltzer

Image
 8 3. I Am Neil Armstrong, by Brad Meltzer Meltzer, B. (2018).  I am Neil Armstrong. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers. Brad Meltzer has written an excellent biography series for younger readers called Ordinary People Change the World.  This volume tells the story of Neil Armstrong from his childhood on a farm in Ohio to a career as an engineer and pilot in the Navy and through his trials at becoming one of America’s first astronauts and how he eventually became the first person on the moon.  This series not only tells about their successes, but also their failures and how they never give up on their dreams.  They always include the hero’s childhood influences.  The series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great—the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves.  At the back are an excellent timeline and photos.  As a former elementary social studies teacher, I have to say these books are excellent for y...
Read more

73. Mirette On the High Wire, by Emily Arnold McCully

Image
  73.     Mirette On the High Wire, by Emily Arnold McCully McCully, E.A. (1992).  Mirette on the high wire . NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.    Mirette was a young girl whose mother owned a boarding house in Paris in the late 1800s.   Famous acrobats, jugglers, actors, and mimes stayed at their boarding house.   One evening a sad-faced stranger, Monsieur Bellini arrived at the boarding house wanting a room.   The next day, Mirette found Monsieur Bellini walking across a tight rope in the courtyard.   She wanted to learn, and finally Monsieur Bellini said he would teach her.   With practice, she became very good. One night, Mariette found out that Monsieur Bellini was famous for his high wire stunts.   She asked him why he didn’t tell her about his adventures, he said he had become afraid. He didn’t want to disappoint Mirette, so he faced his fears and performed a show at the boarding house.   He froze on the wire but Mirette ra...
Read more