Chasing King’s Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Assassin
by James L. Swanson; read by Kim Staunton
Middle School, High School    Scholastic Audio
5 CDs    5.67 hrs.    978-1-338-22724-6    $29.99

With intensity and clarity, Swanson documents the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and James Earl Ray — King’s assassin — and the paths they each took to collide, tragically, on April 3, 1968. Sprinkled throughout the narrative, and adding immediacy to the accounts, are direct quotes from well-known speeches (by King, Robert Kennedy, etc.) and personal recollections from acquaintances of King and Ray. Staunton delivers the narrative with well-measured pacing and grace. The audio recording features a rousing foreword written and read by Congressman John Lewis that inspires listeners to learn from history’s past tragedies to fuel the will to keep on moving forward and upward.

From the November/December 2018 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.