Sure, they’re just books, but their stories are fulfilling a dream. Sign up for the Birthday Party Pledge. Support our newest authors of color. Follow the more established voices who are struggling to build their careers. Our voices and our stories speak to the content of our character, indeed of America’s character.

I’ve matched a few recent books to Martin Luther King’s dream for America.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” MLK

Saving Baby Doe by Danette Vigilante; Putnam Juvenile
The revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano; Scholastic
The Surrender Tree Poem’s of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle; Henry Holt and Company
The Zero Degree Zombie Zone by Patrik Henry Bass and Jerry Craft; Scholastic

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” MLK

The Madman of Piney Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis; Scholastic
Act of Grace by Karen Simpson; Pint of Pennies Press
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz; Simon and Schuster
House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle; Cinco Puntos Press

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” MLK

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero; Cinco Puntos Press
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez; Knopf Books for Young Readers
Bird by Crystal Chan; Atheneum Books for Young Readers
A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman; Nancy Paulsen Books

“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.” MLK

I Lived On Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosin; Atheneum Books for Young Readers
I Remember Beirut by Zeina Abirached; Graphic Universe
Caminar by Skila Brown; Candlewick
The Cat at the Wall by Deborah Ellis; Groundwood Books

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”