DK Life Stories: Martin Luther King Jr.

Author Laurie Calkhoven lives in New York City. She is the author of many books, including George Washington: An American Life and Harriet Tubman: Leading the Way to Freedom. She also also written books on Misty Copeland, Mae Jemison, Jesse Owens, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and others. Laurie has always been fascinated by history, and especially by the ordinary people who got caught up in extraordinary moments in history. She likes the small moments and bizarre facts that mostly get left out by the serious history books--like whether or not a broken egg kept the American Revolution on track, and how putting your hands in your pockets and jiggling change could lead to an arrest in Nazi-occupied France.

Subject consultant Kyair Butts is an educator in Baltimore City, Maryland, with a focus on social justice, advocacy, and literacy. He is also the former Assistant Director of Urban Teachers Baltimore. Kyair is from Des Moines, Iowa.

Literacy consultant Stephanie Laird is an instructional coach at Mitchellville Elementary in Mitchellville, Iowa, and is currently serving on the International Literacy Association's (ILA) Board of Directors through 2019. She was the 2014 recipient of the ILA Technology and Literacy Award. Stephanie is the President-Elect of the Iowa Reading Association and was the 2017 Conference Chair of the Iowa Reading Association's annual conference. Along with being an ambassador and advocate for education, literacy, and teacher leadership across her state, Stephanie was a member of ILA's Literacy, eLearning, Communication, and Culture Committee and has contributed to the International Literacy Day Activity Kit, Literacy Daily, and ReadWriteThink.