After putting up a bulletin board in our (elementary) school library for Black History Month I was prompted to read one of our newly purchased biographies on Martin Luther King, Jr. The book is entitled “M.L.K. Journey of a King” and was written by Tonya Bolden who has received numerous awards for her more than twenty books for children and adults. Under the author’s note she describes this book as her “soul’s journey to see, to feel the man…who gave thirteen years of his life marching, preaching, praying for a righteous America. All the while-a bull’s eye on his back.”

I was stirred as I learned of his rich spiritual heritage and personal faith that prepared him to play such a key leadership role in the civil rights movement of his time. The book also shows how this same faith gave him the courage and self sacrifice to persevere through the dangerous and often discouraging road that he traveled to make strides toward his dream of the “beloved community”. Bolden outlines his journey from school days to the pulpit and into the crucible that was to be his life’s work; striving for a society with racial harmony and equal opportunity for all of its citizens.
Continue reading “Book Review”