Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

March 1, 2018
Grades K-2 These new additions to the Hello, America! series are of somewhat uneven quality, and the constraint of their very introductory reading level often shows. Each book provides a small amount of historical context for its featured structure and the person it is meant to honor, and includes historical and modern images as well as a child's-eye account of a visit; a labeled diagram of the monument or building and picture glossary conclude. Unfortunately, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is the weakest of the set; it manages to avoid even the simplest discussion of race or equality in favor of vague nods to hope, fairness, and the otherwise unexplained civil rights movement. Given the varied quality, librarians and teachers may wish to pick and choose among the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)