Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop by Alice Faye Duncan - ADVISABLE

Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.  NON-FICTION PICTURE BOOK. Calkins Creek, 2018.  $18.  9781629797182

BUYING RECOMMENDATION: MS, HS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

After two black men died because of poorly maintained garbage trucks, the rest of the black workers defied their white bosses and went on strike.  There was nothing safe or simple about the strike, which dragged on for months.  And it was while Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis supporting the strikers that he was assassinated.

I would love to know if elementary teachers are using this in their schools; with the long narrative, I have a hard time seeing it being used much there.  On the other hand, it is very hard to get middle school or high school teachers to use picture books in their classroom - which is unfortunate, because this look at the civil rights movement is a great opener or discussion piece in a any related unit.  My ignorance shows, because I was surprised by MLK’s death near the end.  Any decent civil rights collection needs this.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS