Reviewed by Tina Vasquez, for The Children’s Book Review
by Angela Farris Watkins (Author), Eric Velasquez (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers (October 1, 2010)
My Uncle Martin’s Big Heart is a heartwarming true story told from the perspective of the author when she was a young girl. To the world, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was an American hero and a pioneering civil rights leader, but to little Angela and her cousins, he was simply Uncle M.L., the family man who loved to spend time with his wife Coretta and their four children.
Through intricate, realistic illustrations and personal recollections, Angela sheds light on her uncle’s tremendous personality, his unwavering faith and kindness, and his incredible capacity for love- or, as Angela puts it, he was “an ordinary man with extraordinary love.”
For some of us, it may be difficult to see Martin Luther King Jr. as a simple family man because of his incredible presence, his history-making speeches, and the vital role he played in the civil rights movement, but even while showing her Uncle M.L. in a more simplistic light, she illustrates just what an amazing man he was.
Add this book to your collection: My Uncle Martin’s Big Heart: A Story About Martin Luther King Jr., Through the Eyes of His Niece