A two part narrative first tells the story of King’s childhood experience with discrimination and then adulthood determination to challenge it, ending with his call for “…all God’s children” to join the movement. The story then moves to Herschel’s childhood in Europe and experience in Hitler’s Germany and Poland, his move to America and his answering of King’s call. The two marched together from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 and were apparently admirers of each other.
There is also a good lesson on self-esteem to be learned in this title - both men were raised by strong, loving fathers who instilled their sons with self-esteem. I really like the way the men's lives were shown to parallel - one father tells a son to look up instead of down when he walks, another tells his son to walk like a prince, not a peasant. Both end up following in their father's footsteps - King becomes a preacher like his father, Heschel a rabbi like his father.
A short note at the end tells of the events after the march, to King’s assassination and Heschel’s death a few years later. Raul Colón’s illustrations during the first half are warm & earth-toned, the second half cool & blue-toned – the illustrator is quoted in a book review as saying he did so to evoke the old blue-toned black & white newsreels from World War II.
Recommended for grades 2 - 5
Second. Two complex historical periods are explained in simple enough language for young children to understand. The illustrations do an excellent job of complementing the text. The linking of two disparate yet similar lives gives the events in both lives fresh significance.
ReplyDeletePowerful story line. The author does an excellent job of drawing parallels between the Baptist preacher from Atlanta and the Rabbi from Poland. The picture book and the title itself will be great discussion starters.
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