Each year our students learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his enormous role in the pursuit for civil rights in U.S. history. I often share books with students about others who shared his vision for equality, before his time up to the present day. You can find the book list here.
As much as my students enjoy these stories and discussions that go with the topic, I've found that from the library perspective, planning an experience around the Coretta Scott King Book Award makes additional connections to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and helps readers recognize the award seal when looking for more books to read.
The ALA website has all of the information that I share with students but what they really want is who Coretta Scott King was as a person, outside of being married. They enjoy looking at photos of her, learning about the names of her children, what she liked to sing and what she has written. Then we take a look at the design of the award seal and students point out what they notice. We discuss the symbols chosen and how it connects to the purpose of the book award. The website has the meaning behind the symbols, too.
There's also a great video explaining the origins of the book award and when I show it, there's always a student who says how empowering it is that the group saw a lack of awards honoring Black voices and stories so they created one themselves!
I show them the recent winning books as well as book trailers for them. During this time I have pulled the other books that we have in our library collection and students take their time browsing, reading, and sharing them.
The older students are asked to rate the books they chose and the younger students get to listen to read alouds of the stories and act out the stories. For example, we listened to Misty Copeland's Firebird, gorgeously illustrated by Christopher Myers, then my 2nd graders practiced their dance poses and even leaped through the library like a dancer would!
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