This book, by Billie Holiday, is a classic that takes place during the Depression. The story is about an African American family's struggles during the Great Migration. The words of the poem were originally from a song, making the text very unique. Jerry Pinkney's impressionistic illustrations really bring the story to life. This book would be a great addition to an elementary classroom when teaching students about topics like black culture and American history. ( )

Picture book telling of the Billie Holiday song. Gorgeous illustrations by Jerry Pinkney. Best of all, it includes a CD of Billie Holiday singing the song.

This book, by Billie Holiday, is a late Depression era classic. The story is about an African American family's struggles during the Great Migration. The words of the poem were originally a song, making the poem very unique. Jerry Pinkney's realistic illustrations really carry the poem and put a story behind it through impressionistic pictures. I really loved that the book isn't so explicitly detailed, leaving it up to the readers' interpretations. This book would be a great addition to an elementary classroom when teaching students about topics like black culture and history. ( )

This book is about the struggles of an African American family during the Great Migration. The illustrations in this book are what bring the story to life and help tell the story better. The book's illustrations run onto two pages. The book holds a pattern to only having words on every four pages. After a page with words, the book continues to show more illustrated details until the fourth page where words are continued. I think this illustrative strategy has the pictures telling a stronger story than the words. This strategy works because I am able to see how families struggled during the Great Migration. The family in the story works hard, having every family member, even the children working to make ends meet. Overall, this is a great book to introduce to students learning about the Great Migration. The pictures do an excellent job of illustrating what a child might have done during that time. ( )

The text of the book is a song by Billie Holiday with illustrations that accompany it. The story told is that of an African American family which moved from a quiet, spacious home in the country to a small apartment in the fast-paced city during the Great Migration in the first half of the 20th century and their attempts to get comfortable. While there is much history behind this story, it is a good way to cover the topic of unfamiliar situations and how to cope with them. ( )