Gary Golio

This is a biography of Billie Holiday in two parts. The first part describes her path to singing, how she came to sing Strange Fruits, and the impacts of the song. It is accompanied by beautiful painted illustrations that are full of squiggles and lines that accentuate the motions and emotions of the images in a style that reminds me of some Harlem Renaissance works. The second part is without illustration and gives more information on the harassment she faced because of Strange fruits, lynchings, and tells more of her life's story. It is a potent telling of her life and the power of a song. The way that her life story is laid out is appropriate for even younger children, though some age-appropriate further explanation of discrimination, lynching, and the context of how black people were treated may be wise for the really young children.… (mehr)

This beautifully crafted poetry picture book displays Sonny Rollins' passion to play jazz on the saxophone, though he is struggling to find a good enough place to do so. Finally, he finds "the bridge" and just plays and plays to his heart's content. I would recommend this book to kinder-third grade students.This age group would work best because while it is an entertaining and beautiful picture book, the older students can appreciate (or at least begin to appreciate) the content about Sonny Rollins.… (mehr)