Let Freedom Ring: A Ballad of Martin Luther King, Jr.

True to the book's subtitle, Livingston's ( Space Songs ; A Circle of Seasons ) brief text reads much like a song that features intermittent rhyme, phrases from King's speeches and the repeated refrain: ``From every mountainside, let freedom ring. Your dream is our dream, Martin Luther King.'' Using choppy, abbreviated sentences, the author pieces together the highlights of King's life: ``Finished up his schooling, started in to preach. Lord called him to the pulpit. Moved to Montgomery.'' Complementing this unusual and forceful narrative style are Byrd's ( Dancing with the Indians ; A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman ) strikingly realistic paintings, which depict actual events in King's life, including his marriage to Coretta Scott, a 1963 meeting with President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, King's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway in 1964 and a protest march in Tennessee just weeks before his 1968 assassination. Given its impressionistic style, this stirring portrait will be most appreciated by readers on the older end of the intended age spectrum. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)