In Their Own Words -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Last week, Kyle overheard me telling the Monday babysitter that comes when Amanda and I go to BSF, that I didn't need her because of the holiday.

"Holiday? It's a holiday?" Kyle asked, most likely thinking of tinsel and presents.

"Yes, it's Martin Luther King day."

"Oh. Who's King Martin?"

I'm getting a lot of mileage out of our sleepover at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

He came home on Friday with a little booklet that they had cut and put together (from themailboxcompanion.com):

Martin Luther King, Jr.

He liked to read.
He liked school.
He liked sports.
He became a minister.
He had a dream for peace.

"Oh, now you know who Martin Luther King, is, huh?"

"Yeah," Kyle said, smiling.

"Do you know why we have a holiday for him?"

"He wanted peace. And he got shotted."

"Do you know why he got shot?" I asked, surprised that he knew that he had been killed.

"People didn't like him."

Amanda chimed in. "Kyle, do you know a fancy word for getting shot? Assassinated."

Two of the five books that I'm reading as a Cybils Middle Grade Nonfiction judge are civil rights books. As I'm trying to read these, with a kid's-eye view, it occurs to me that it's like ancient history to them -- sort of like me learning that there was a time that women couldn't take a man's job or vote.

And that's a good thing.