Holiday Reading: Books for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

What better way to celebrate a holiday than to learn about it through reading?

The teacher in me says there is no better way. Although we aren't in school for me to teach my students today, I thought I would share some book suggestions with you. Even if you don't get around to reading them today, perhaps you'll take a dive into them at a later date.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a federal holiday that was first celebrated in 1986. It falls on the third Monday in January each year, near King's birthday on January 15.

Here is a smattering of book lists from around the web that either provide information about King and his life, or are more general books about the Civil Rights Movement to which King devoted himself:

• Last year on MLK Day, the Huffington Post provided a list of nine books about King's life.
• Last January, the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog listed three books about the movement and one collection of King's writings and speeches.
• This year About.com asked Brooklyn booksellers to recommend books about King and the Civil Rights movement, totaling twenty books for both children and adults.
• ReadingRockets.org compiled an excellent list of books about King and the movement for children, including both picture books for reading aloud and books for beginning independent readers.
• NPR's Backseat Book Club Pick for January 2012 is Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963, a book that provides a child's view of the 1963 church bombing in Alabama, a pivotal event in the Civil Rights movement. Young readers can submit questions during or after reading the novel, and NPR will ask Curtis submitted questions during their wrap-up interview at the end of the month.