Adding to the growing body of literature about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, Bolden attempts to portray the passion of a man for a cause when he could have lived a quiet life untouched by the troubles that would come his way. However, in striving to avoid treating King as an icon, Bolden goes to the other extreme and uses King’s nickname “M.L.” throughout the text, too informal for a serious biography. Though the volume is attractively packaged, not all of the photographs are of good quality, some sidebars are difficult to read and no sources for young readers are included. The writing is often awkward and wordy, and the story opens with rather unusual speculations on what King might have been thinking as he lay dying from a gunshot that shattered his jaw and severed his spinal cord. Still, an important, comprehensive look at a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement. (author’s note, timeline, source notes, sources, index) (Nonfiction. 8-14)
