A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation

A Place to Land:  Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation

Much has been written about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1963 March on Washington. But there's little on his legendary speech and how he came to write it.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was once asked if the hardest part of preaching was knowing where to begin. No, he said. The hardest part is knowing where to end. "It's terrible to be circling up there without a place to land."

Finding this place to land was what Martin Luther King, Jr. struggled with, alongside advisors and fellow speech writers, in the Willard Hotel the night before the March on Washington, where he gave his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. But those famous words were never intended to be heard on that day, not even written down for that day, not even once.

• Hardcover, 48 pages
• 10" x 12"
• ALA Notable Children's Book
• Nominated for an NAACP Image Award
• A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
• A Booklist Editors' Choice
• Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and School Library Journal

Barry Wittenstein is the author of several picture books, including Waiting for Pumpsie and The Boo-Boos That Changed the World: A True Story About an Accidental Invention (Really). He lives in New York City.

Legendary author and illustrator Jerry Pinkney's many accolades include the Caldecott Medal, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five Coretta Scott King Honor Awards, four New York Times Best Illustrated Books, and four gold medals from the Society of Illustrators. He served on the National Council of the Arts, and is a Trustee Emeritus of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. He lives in Westchester, New York.