I'm enjoying the selection of picture-book biographies brought to me by the Cybils NonFiction Picture book category. I've mostly missed this entire category of book up until now, since I rarely wandered into the nonfiction section when browsing for picture books except when given specific instructions (which really, only N tended to do), but my sons and I are enjoying the selections the Cybils team offers us. Roxanne Orgill's story of the childhood and early career of Ella Fitzgerald, Scit-Scat Raggedy Cat, was my first glimpse of the life of the famous jazz singer. The pictures (by Sean Qualls) and text brought her beginnings as an energetic young girl singing and dancing on the street to vivid life, followed by the dark times after the death of her mother and her loneliness with her aunt, in detention, and on the street.
After reading the book, we went on the internet to hear snatches of the songs referenced in the story, many of them new to me. My only quibble was that the text frequently refers to her as homely, stressing that this ugly girl was making the beautiful music, but the pictures belie that, showing a pretty little thing. B
No comments:
Post a Comment