Listen to my Dream

Listen To My Dream

by

Debi Pearl

In 1986 Debi Pearl wanted to teach her children about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There was only one worn out children’s book on Dr. King. How could such a man, not have a whole shelf of books? How would future generations know about him?

She told her children stories she read in newspapers 20 years earlier. Working from them, Debi wrote Listen To My Dream in 1986 using the same rhyme and rhythm with which she had taught them the ABC’s. The Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. have authorized this new 2009 printing.

The book covers the life of King from childhood through his death in 1968 and is written as a narrative poem. It opens with King asking his mother why he was black and wasn't treated like others. Later, his teacher encouraged him to dream big dreams to help others. He set his mind to do that very thing. As a 'colored man' (a term for Negroes at the time), he didn't have the same privileges in the south that whites had. Then when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person and was arrested, King organized a boycott of the Montgomery bus system until blacks were treated the same as others. Eventually in 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that such discrimination was against the law.

The children's part of the book is written as a poem, emphasizing the importance of setting goals and sticking to them. It ends after King's funeral following his murder on April 4, 1968. Listen To My Dream is a 40 page book written in two parts.

The first poetic part, as mentioned above, outlines King's life and influence in bringing about racial equality.

Part two gives more details about the civil rights movement and how King influenced it; this part is written as a narrative and has no pictures.

Debi and Michael Pearl drew all the illustrations for the first part of the book. At times the poem only hints at something and then, a detail is given on the picture. An example of this is the statement that it was his teacher, Miss Lemon from Oglethorpe Elementary who prodded him on to have a dream and believe in it. The focus of the book Listen To My Dream is on King's part in bringing about civil rights. In that Martin Luther King should be recognized and remembered. --EzineArticles Susannah Singer

About the author:

Debi Pearl was raised in Memphis, Tennessee, in good homes, by parents who were faithful to point her to God. As a teenager Debi was actively involved in witnessing, ministering to the sick and wounded veterans, and serving in hospitals in Memphis.

About twenty three years ago, Debi and her husband Mike moved to rural Tennessee where they continued in the work by holding Bible studies in local homes, which eventually led to regular meetings of the local body of believers, and the starting of the prison ministry where Mike still ministers every Saturday.

God eventually led Mike and Debi into the ministry of writing on child training and family relationships, which they now feel is their life’s work and calling. The result of this work led to the formation of No Greater Joy Ministries (NGJ), a 501 (c) (3). The web address is www.nogreaterjoy.org. The Ministry has active distributors in 14 countries and every continent but Antarctica.

Prior to authoring The Vision, her first novel in a planned series, Debi has authored or co-authored 5 previous books. To date over 1,000,000 of her books have been sold in several languages.

In addition to the child training ministry, the work of the prison ministry, missions, and Bible studies, the Pearls have an active family life. They have been married 37 years; have 5 children, and 14 grandchildren with more on the way.

Her latest book is Listen To My Dream. Within one month of its release it reached #1 on Amazon for children's educational books two separate times.

Product Description

Every once in a while, down through the pages of time, the life and works of one man forever changes the lives of millions of people. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was such a man. WHY WOULD AN OLD WHITE LADY WRITE A CHILDREN'S BOOK EXTOLLING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.? The answer is simple: the hurt in a wounded soldier s eyes. This is her story of why she wrote Listen To My Dream I remember the day I helped black soldiers, soldiers who had given their young bodies for their nation, courageous men from places like California and Washington state, into my car and took them for a short ride to the local dairy bar for a long-anticipated ice cream cone. For months they had languished in the hospital, living for any opportunity to get out. I remember the profound hurt I saw in their eyes when they saw hanging from the shop s two front windows, signs they had never before seen: Whites Only. I had grown up with it; it was just the way things were. But through their eyes I saw ugliness and hate. I felt angry stares from the nearby cars, heard unknown voices whispering, What s a white girl doing here with a Negro in the front seat? They didn t know that the soldier couldn t get out he lost his legs fighting a war for them. What I saw through their eyes that day made me so ashamed. In rhythmic manner, Debi presents Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. s dream . She begins with the dream of a boy, the son of a preacher and a teacher born at a time when for many, dreams were just that: dreams with little or no hope of being realized. She continues as he grows, refusing to accept that and not only dreamed but labored to make that dream a reality. Throughout his life he shares his dream with others, inviting them to also dream and join him in his labors. Although in life he only reached the mountaintop his dream lives on and has become a reality for many over the years. Listen To My Dream will captivate readers young and old with its engaging storytelling and colorful artwork. Follow the life of the young boy that would become Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he dreams, shares his dream and then lives and gives his life to make that dream a reality for others. This book will remind those who may have lived so long as to have forgotten the dream and will introduce the dream to a generation that has benefited from the dream without even knowing of it. The book is being Reprinted by arrangement with The Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr., c/o Writers House as agent for the proprietor New York, NY. Copyright 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr; copyright renewed 1991 Coretta Scott King