Review: My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[obiebookworm]

By Martin Luther King III

There have been a lot of books written about my father. But not a whole lot has been written about my dad. This book is about my daddy. These are the words of Martin Luther King III, the second of the four children in the King household. In this iconic book, King takes young readers back to the time when he was a child. Named Marty, to distinguish him from his famous daddy, he shares how it was difficult both to be just an ordinary kid during a time when kids were not treated equally, and to be growing up as the son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Marty remembers when he and his sister, Yoki, wanted more than anything to go to Funtown. But their daddy said that he was working hard so that all children could go there, because the rides were only for white people. Maybe next week, daddy would say, but that week never came. Nonetheless, Marty’s times at home were fun. He enjoyed when his daddy tossed a football with him and taught him how to shoot hoops. But that was at home.


Away from home was different. Kids at school knew who Marty’s daddy was, and some thought he was a troublemaker. As a result, Marty was bullied often. When kids asked what his name was, he was afraid to tell them, so he would say that he forgot. It did not help when he heard on his way home from school one day that his father, as well as eighty other people, had been thrown into jail. Marty’s mom encouraged him not to worry and assured him that daddy would be back home.


Marty recalls marching in a protest once. Even though the marchers/protesters were peaceful, that did not stop police officers from spraying them with fire hoses, or turning dogs on them. He even remembers a time when a police officer approached his daddy and him with a huge dog that viciously growled at them. It did not matter how bad it got, Marty’s daddy never fought back. We must meet violence with nonviolence. We must meet hate with love. Marty would often hear these comments from his daddy. More than that, his daddy practiced what he preached at home as well as away from home.


A good example of practicing nonviolence took place one Christmas when his brother, Dexter, and Marty received toy guns for presents. Even though they wanted to be like the other boys in the neighborhood who played with guns, they knew guns were wrong. So that night they tossed their gifts in the backyard bonfire that their daddy had made.


By the time Marty was in third grade, the laws changed and he and Yoki were able to attend a white school. That happened in September 1968. It was because his daddy fought for his children to be treated equally and not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Marty’s daddy never saw him start at this new school. Marty was ten years old when his daddy was killed in March.


This poignant yet simple story, told through the eyes of a young Martin Luther King III, is coupled with Ford’s impeccable oil and acrylic illustrations that earmark this historical book as truly one of a kind and which I highly recommend is a must to add to your book shelf.
Picture Book