Attention musicians! Well, really anyone who wants to be inspired by a woman who created "her own story," who didn't "wait for things to happen" to her, who "made her own opportunities." Text ©Shannon Stocker Illustration ©Devon Holzwarth Here is Evelyn, enjoying life on her family's farm in Aberdeen, Scotland. This image took me back … Continue reading Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion – Perfect Picture Book Friday
On the half-title page, we are treated to a quote from Nina Simone: "When I die...I'm gonnna know that I left something for [my people] to build on. That is my reward." This biography elegantly shows the progression of a woman bent on making a living through her music, to a woman bent on fighting … Continue reading Nina: A Story of Nina Simone – Perfect Picture Book Friday
In my early teens, ©️I learned to play The Entertainer, loving its rhythm and the feeling that my hands were somehow accomplishing great feats while I enjoyed the song (after many hours of brainwork and practice that it took to keep my left hand hitting the backbone notes while my right hand capered off to … Continue reading King of Ragtime – Perfect Picture Book Friday
For National Poetry Month, who better to feature than the marvelous, lyrical picture book author, Carole Boston Weatherford, writing about a woman whose songs are a perfect mix of poetry and heart, Aretha Franklin. Each couplet in this book is a poem that moves the story forward. B-L-E-S-S-E-DCradled by the church, rocked by an ebony … Continue reading R-E-S-P-E-C-T — Perfect Picture Book Friday
Can you name the blind Black man whose music was recorded on a Golden Record called "The Sounds of Earth," placed in a time capsule in 1977, and sent out of our solar system on Voyager I? No? Here's a book that gives the man, Willie Johnson, his due: Instead of starting off with the … Continue reading Dark Was the Night – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Seven Golden Rings is a tale of longing, of using your cleverness for survival, a tale where your journey to fulfill your dream ends up bringing you something unexpected. Text ©️Rajani LaRocca Illustration ©️Archana Sreenivasan Long ago there lived a kind rajah who ruled over vast lands.He loved music, and gathered the finest players and … Continue reading Seven Golden Rings – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
I feel compelled to add my voice to those who are lauding FREEDOM SOUP! As you can see from the cover, it's not going to be your everyday dull, boring history lesson. This story will be a shared cooking and dancing celebratory experience, one where we learn how the slaves of Haiti overthrew their oppressors … Continue reading Freedom Soup – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
Never judge an actress by her glamor or profession, because there may be something under that camera-ready veneer. In Hedy Lamarr's case, there was an extremely creative brain, one that worked nonstop, even while she was acting. Jacket flap: "Meet savvy scientist and inventor Hedy Lamarr, also known for her career as a glamorous international … Continue reading Hedy Lamarr’s Double Life – Perfect Picture Book Friday
"Oh, child. Long gone. Oh, child. Sail on." Can you hear it? Can you feel it? The rhythm. The blues. Because this is the story of Muddy … Continue reading Muddy – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Jilanne Hoffmann 