by Roxanne Orgill, illustrated by Sean Qualls. Candlewick Biographies. Candlewick Press, December, 2012. 9780763664596. (Borrowed.)
Ella Fitzgerald was poor but had a rich home life thanks to her mother's love of music. She and her sisters used to dance to her mother's records. Ella discovered that the folks of Yonkers would pay nickels to see her and her partner, Charlie dance on the street corner. She and Charlie even splurged on a trolley then train ride to the Savoy to learn new dance steps. Then, when Ella was fourteen, her mother died and she was sent to Harlem to live with her aunt, who gave little more than a roof over her head. After she ran away from an abusive situation in an orphanage, Ella lived hand-to-mouth and slept wherever a couch was offered. She lived rough. So rough that when she won a talent contest, she didn't get the week's worth of singing gigs because her clothes were dirty and so was she.
Told in prose that pops with rhythm and jazz lingo, this picture book biography is lusciously illustrated in acrylic, pencil and collage in a mostly pastel-ish palette featuring reds and rose. There's a page at the end containing suggestions for further reading, including a discography and a couple of web sites. It's even indexed.
I'm not sure who the audience for this little treat is without it being introduced by an adult, say a language arts teacher doing a biography unit or a music teacher doing a unit on jazz. But do keep it in mind.
Apparently, this is a reissue in a different format. It was originally published as a picture book size in 2010. Now, the trim size is smaller and taller and it's part of Candlewick Biographies.
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