DREAM Publishing

During the school year we provide book making materials for students to illustrate and write their own stories as part of the publishing center we established in the school library. Students who are interested in continuing to develop their publications collaborate with school librarian Beth Schlegel and artist Laura Glazer to further develop their work, going through the publication process from drafting, editing, proofing, publishing, and distributing their art and learning to the community in and beyond the school.

The project enacts poet and activist June Jordan’s advice to “bring the children into the library as writers…ask him to write whatever he wants everybody to know. Or ask her to write whatever she thinks is important, although nobody seems to care.”

The school motto is “the dream is alive at Dr. MLK Jr.” and it informs the mission of DREAM Publishing to make public the ways in which Dr. King’s words—and the world he envisioned—is embodied within students at Dr. MLK Jr. School.

Our first title, Piggy Love by Raquel Hale, was published in June 2024. At the book release event, Raquel read her book to the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten classes, and each student received their own copy to keep.

In June 2025, we released Bugs by Kojo, written and illustrated when the author was in kindergarten. The 28-page paperback is in English and Ewe, the dialect spoken in the region of Ghana where Kojo’s father is from. During the book release event in the school library, father and son gave a tandem reading—Kojo in English, and his father, Koffie, in Ewe. They answered questions from an audience of Kojo’s peers in kindergarten and first grade, followed by a reception with donut holes and juice. Every student in those grades received a copy of the book to take home. The book is in its third printing and Kojo has gone on to participate in additional author events, including a reading and book signing at the King Farmers Market.

We released four titles during the 2025–2026 school year.

Rabbits was written and illustrated by Adan, a second-grade student, and Lev Turner, a DREAM Publishing fellow who mentored Adan throughout the winter and spring terms. The book was released during the school’s annual Multicultural Potluck and Literacy Night.

Diary of a… brings together writing and illustrations by eight third-grade students. We celebrated the release of the 182-page paperback with the entire third grade and members of the public. Students read their chapters in small groups, sharing their writing and artwork with their peers.

In 2000, when he was in second grade, Portland author and bus operator Matthias Snell wrote How the Cat Got His Whiskers. We came across the original book in a Little Free Library and tracked Matthias down. He still writes, and we reprinted his childhood book, distributing copies to every second-grade student at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. Matthias visited the school to read the book aloud and answer students’ questions such as “what time of day did you write this?”

Grace Kook Anderson, a curator at the Portland Art Museum, wrote The Friendship when she was in fourth grade. We reprinted the book and invited third-grade student Poppy to interview Grace for the new edition. Grace read the book to the entire third grade, and students were excited to compare the reprint with the original. “We’ve never seen the original of anything,” said one student.