As Good as Anybody: Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March Toward Freedom

A preacher from Georgia, a rabbi from Poland, and a truckload of injustice. As Good as Anybody tells the stories of Martin Luther King Jr. and his struggle for equality in America, of Abraham Joshua Heschel searching for freedom from Nazi Germany, and how these two men came together to fight for a common cause. Everyone in America grow up learning about Martin Luther King Jr., but very little know the story about Abraham Heschel. As good as anybody does a fantastic job of bringing the two together and introducing the world to a little known hero. The way this book is organized is great. There is no confusion on which character is being taled about, because the reader learns about them separately, than about their journey together. show more Written with conviction and ease, this book is great for readers of all ages. show less

As Good as Anybody is a charming creative history picture book that parallels the lives of Martin Luther King Jr and Abraham Joshua Heschel. The book creates the parallel through the use of repetitive statements, the use of a timeline that begins when both men were boys and follows them through to their later relationship as social movement activists and the use of a similar tone of melodically enticing writing throughout each story and then in the culmination of their story when they marched together. For example, the repetition of the title quote "As Good as Anybody" during emotionally relevant periods in both young men's lives and then later in the speeches they gave to garner support emotionally and physically for their beliefs.
In a show more society of commercialism where MLK day has become another excuse for sales at your local mall it is nice to read a book that tries to give an account that shows through beautiful, soft illustrations and emotionally charged words that there is a greater significance we need to be focused on when celebrating such an illustrious figure's life and contribution to the way that we see each other.
While the book is mainly a suppositional rendering of both men's timeline by the author in respect to dialogue and minute details of the events that shaped both men's lives, it does achieve both an emotional response from the reader and a general picture of the events which lead to Martin Luther King and Abraham Heschel's meeting and subsequent relationship. A relationship that brought together different ethnic groups in America (in this case a Southern Black man and a Jewish Rabbi) to march for a common cause that had been neglected, ignored, or furiously segregated -- the right of every man to be free and equal because we are all just As Good as Anybody.
As far as classroom significance, I think that the initial emotional response that students will have to words like "you are as good as anybody" and "in the next world..." which are repeated in both stories will garner lively discussion because they do "feel" as if they encompass everyone. Also, topics about why stories like Heschel and King's are significant to us now and what we can learn from them. Not hard questions or even original, but lively ones that can translate from a kindergarten class to a middle school or even high school (with some extra reading involved) because there are still issues of segregation, prejudice, and bullying that students have to deal with today. show less

This book is an excellent tale weaving the life stories of Martin Luther King with that of Abraham Joshua Heschel to give the young reader a sense of time and place. Both men suffered first-hand the effects of racism, with the similarities in the book between the bigotry of the United States and the Third Reich front-and-center. This gives the book a little bit of a chilling effect.

The book does a wonderful job showing the humanity in both men, illustrating their humble beginnings as angry and confused children in a world that neither understood. I think this is one of the forgotten aspects of many of the great biographies, which spend so much time emphasizing greatness, they never delve into how easily great things can happen to show more ordinary people that refuse to accept things as they are.

The most adorable part of the book is where Abraham Heschel's father hid candies in the books his son would study to emphasize what a treat learning is. I might use this someday.

I would recommend this book for ages 6-11. show less

I would argue that this book is a great tool for getting kids at many learning levels interested in the subject matter and properly introduced to themes presented. What really intrigued me were the illustrations and how they encompassed and presented what was written on the adjacent pages. The parallel images of the boys being embraced by their parents and the more negative parallel images of the physical aggression each of these men experienced later in life with police aggression and brutality further solidified the special relationship they would eventually have and the unique but similar experiences of oppression they faced. I was also intrigued by how the author incorporated the more whimsical motif of saying how each boy was told show more by their parents how they were "as good as anybody," which sets these two men on a similar trajectory of fighting for equality. This book blurs the line of portraying reality while fictionalizing elements of their childhood, but this dramatization does not take away from the book. It draws specific parallels that I believe children would quickly acknowledge while the facts introduce the children to two very different but similar periods of human oppression. show less

MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel. Their names stand for the quest for justice and equality.Martin grew up in a loving family in the American South, at a time when this country was plagued by racial discrimination. He aimed to put a stop to it. He became a minister like his daddy, and he preached and marched for his cause.Abraham grew up in a loving family many years earlier, in a Europe that did not welcome Jews. He found a new home in America, where he became a respected rabbi like his father, carrying a message of peace and acceptance.Here is the story of two icons for social justice, how they formed a remarkable friendship and turned their personal experiences of discrimination into a message of love and equality show more for all. show less

Michelson has written an exceptional informative story about the plights of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. I believe that it was brilliant to introduce the characters as children experiencing the hardships they would later protest because children immediately identify with peers, with or without like experiences.

As a middle school Social Studies teacher, I could utilize the book as an introduction to Civil Rights. Additionally,the story line can be used to introduce a compare and contrast between the opinions within the U.S. general public versus the Anti-Nazi sentiment worldwide. Why was discrimination rampant in the United States while the military was attempting to eliminate persecution in Europe?

As Good As Anybody shows the parallel between the lives of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel. At first glance, these individuals may appear to not have a lot in common. This book identifies the similarities between the two men, and it discusses how the two men eventually joined forces to fight for equal rights in the United States. The repetitious use of the phrase "you're as good as anybody" ensures that this message will be remembered by readers both young and old.