Martin Rising: Requiem for a King
- hmatherly
- Sep 11, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 24, 2023
Genre/Awards
Poetry or novel in verse
Age Group
PreK - 6th Grades
Plot Summary
Martin Rising: Requiem for King is a poetic rendition of the last few weeks of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and his assassination on April 4, 1968. Pinkney's poetry conveys the raw emotions around the Civil Rights Movement, the Memphis Sanitation Worker's Strike, and the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
Justification
In 2019, Martin Rising was an ALA Notable Children’s Book. Children’s Literature Briefly also lists it in its Multicultural Reading Lists (Young, T. A. et al., 2020). My 9 year-old son is biracial and enjoys poetry, so I hoped he would enjoy learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. in this format.
Audio Book
The poetry of Martin Rising: Requiem for a King was not evident to me when I first read the book, so I chose to listen to the author read it in audiobook format. As I also had a physical copy of the book, I know that the beautiful illustrations were lost by listening to it as an audio book. I felt this was justified by hearing the author’s rhythms and inflections as she intended them to be heard. I especially appreciated her singing the songs that are referred to during the book.
Accuracy
Although written in verse, the author takes little poetic license with the chronological events in the story. A comparison of the Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike from Stanford University shows the same timeline of events, including the playful pillow fight between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy shortly before King’s assignation. (The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute (n.d.))
Character
In addition to the historical figures in the book, Henny Penny is introduced early in the narrative, and she makes appearances throughout the book. The author describes her as a “Greek chorus”. However, I found her distracting because of her association with Chicken Little in the United States (Wikipedia. (n.d.)). I felt this association trivialized MLK’s life, death, and what his sacrifice means for African Americans today.
References
Pinkney, A. D. (2018). Martin rising: Requiem for a King. (A. Pinkney, Narr.) [Audiobook] Scholastic Audio.
Young, T. A, Bryan, G., Jacobs, J. S, & Tunnell, M. O. (2020). Children’s literature, briefly. Pearson Education Inc.
Henny Penny. (2023, September 11). In Wikipedia.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute (n.d.) Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike. Stanford University. Retrieved September 11, 2023, from https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/memphis-sanitation-workers-strike
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