Respect

Music permeates every aspect of our lives.  Daily there is a cadence and chorus of sounds.  The hum of a furnace, air conditioner, a clothes or hair dryer, or a refrigerator inside our homes blend with the whistle of wind, birdsong, the howl of coyotes or the ringing of wind chimes.  Reading or hearing a single word can add an entirely new series of notes to this familiar symphony.

Anyone who grows up near the Motor City and spends their life in Michigan has sung and danced to the music made by the Queen of Soul.  All you have to do is hear her name and the sound of her voice singing the words of one of her songs will play in your mind all day long.  A Voice Named Aretha (Bloomsbury Children's Books, January 7, 2020) written by Katheryn Russell-Brown with illustrations by Laura Freeman pays tribute to this extraordinary musician's life in memorable words and images.

Folks came from miles around to hear Reverend C. L. Franklin preach at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan.  The famous preacher gave soul-stirring sermons that could make you shout, moan, or nod and whisper "Amen."

As some of the most famous names associated with African American arts and civil rights visited the Franklin home in Detroit, Michigan, quiet Aretha watched and listened.  Aretha and her siblings all sang gospel music in their father's church, but little Aretha had a voice that was pure magic.  Twice deep sadness entered the child's life before she was ten; first for the end of her parent's marriage and then the death of her mother.  Aretha sang through her sorrow with her first solo.

More than a thousand people heard Aretha sing that beautiful uplifting song.

At twelve she traveled with her father.  He preached and she sang.  Both sent out a riveting message to those gathered to listen.  At eighteen she moved to New York City and signed with a record company.  In keeping with what she had been taught, Aretha never performed unless everyone was allowed to attend.

Before too long Aretha realized she needed to switch record companies.  She did this and got a new band.  Her song "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love you)" rose to the top of the charts selling one million copies.

Aretha Franklin became the first woman to enter the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  The year was 1987.  Do you know why Aretha Franklin's signature style of wearing a fur coat on stage began?  (Readers of this title will learn.)  To everyone who heard her perform in person or listened to her music on their radios or stereos or today, through their devices, she lifted (and still lifts) them up.  Everywhere Aretha Franklin went, the world was enriched for her having been there.


Meticulous research and an abiding respect for Aretha Franklin inspired and directed the writing of Katheryn Russell-Brown.  This is evident in every word we read.  As we move from passage to passage through Aretha Franklin's life, it's as if there is a soulful beat similar to her music captured and presented on the pages.  Here are two separate passages.

Before she went on tour with her band, Aretha was warned that club owners sometimes tricked singers out of their money.  No way was she going to let that happen!  She demanded payment in cash, before the show.  And when she went on stage, she always put her handbag where she could see it.  Aretha could put on a show and take care of business.

Each one of her songs is like a sermon, with a story and a lesson, seasoned with life wisdom, hard work, and always, lots of soul.  They remind us of the greatest joy or the deepest pain.


The warmth of the colors, the vibrant reds, purples and golden yellows, shown on the open and matching dust jacket and book case, convey the essence of Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, and her music.  The portrait of her singing as a little girl and as an adult with the album between them symbolizes the length and breadth of her talent.  Both facial expressions depict a revelation and release of her gift into the world.

The curtain on the front continues over the spine to create another stage with these words between the two curtains.

Aretha's songs inspire
us to think, love, and
respect ourselves
and one another. 

On a regal purple a collection of 45 records of Aretha Franklin's songs are displayed on the opening and closing endpapers.  Aretha Franklin stands clothed in a yellow gown, singing with a microphone in her hand on the title page against a canvas of white.

The illustrations, rendered digitally with Photoshop, by Laura Freeman are presented on single pages and as double-page pictures.  Laura Freeman places the elements in her images close to us or farther away to fashion an emotional moment.  When young Aretha learns of her mother's passing, she is shown smaller, standing in front of a dresser with the gift from her mother of a nurse's kit on top.  She is hugging a picture of her mother.  There is an abundance of white space around her.  When she is recording one of her first songs, she is shown larger than life before a hanging microphone in the studio.  Her face and upper body fill the page as she stands, eyes closed.  To her right two other accompanying singers are shown in shades of gray.  Readers will note the attention to detail as to historical correctness in architecture, clothing, automobiles and hair styles in the illustrations.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is a double-page picture.  For the background a "sea" of seated people is spread in faded colors.  From right to left is a stage, widening a bit on the left.  On the left side is a piano in blue.  Behind a red podium is ten-year-old Aretha Franklin.  Dressed in yellow, hair in two braids and standing on a chair to be seen with her arms outstretched, she is singing her first solo.  Her back is to us.


This book, an acclamation to the life work of the Queen of Soul, A Voice Named Aretha written by Katheryn Russell-Brown with illustrations by Laura Freeman, is one to have on the shelves of your professional and personal collections.  At the close of the book are two pages titled More About The Queen Of Soul.  This is followed by A Note From The Author, A Note From The Illustrator, Songs By Aretha Franklin, Notes For "More About The Queen Of Soul" and Sources.  Once you've read this individually or to a group, be prepared to be singing and dancing to her songs for days.

To learn more about Katheryn Russell-Brown and Laura Freeman and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites. Katheryn Russell-Brown has an account on Twitter.  Laura Freeman has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Katheryn Russell-Brown wrote a post at the Nerdy Book Club and was interviewed at Book Q&As With Deborah Kalb.  Please enjoy these two musical videos.  I've been singing them in my mind for several days.




Take a few moments to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week by participants in the 2020 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Singing From Her Heart

Before we could afford a television set the place of prominence in our living room was filled by our radio and record player combination furniture.  By today's standards it was huge; a large unit with the record player sliding out like a file cabinet drawer in the front.  It played 78RPM records and 45RPM with an adapter.  My parents loved listening to their favorite music when they were not working.  One of my dad's favorite singers was Lena Horne.  If I close my eyes I can travel back in time, listening to Stormy Weather with my dad.

More than ever I wish I could talk to him, asking him if he knew as much about her life as I now do after reading this most recent picture book biography about her life.                        The Legendary Miss Lena Horne (Atheneum Books For Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, January 24, 2017) written by Carole Boston Weatherford with art by Elizabeth Zunon is stunning.  Readers will be captivated as soon as they read her introductory quotation before the narrative begins.

You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way.
           ---Lena Horne

The Horne family tree was laden with achievers: teachers, activists, a Harlem Renaissance poet, the dean of a black college, and Lena's grandmother Cora Calhoun Horne, a college graduate.  

Lena's parents, Teddy and Edna, lead interesting lives.  Her father never passed up a chance to make money; betting on a card game to pay the bill for her hospital stay on the day she was born.  Her mother was an actress who traveled from city to city and state to state.  Even at the age of two the way was clear for Lena.  She was prominently featured as a member of the NAACP and pictured on one of their bulletins.

Soon thereafter her parents left her in the care of her grandmother Cora in Brooklyn.  Her grandmother expected the best of her grandchild encouraging her in her education and outside interests.  Lena found solace in books and reading.  For a bit of time she was taken from her grandmother's home by her mother to travel with the group but this child longed to return home to Brooklyn.  When with her grandmother Lena had the finest opportunities.

Back with her mother and stepfather during the Great Depression Lena was placed onstage to perform for money.  Working at the Cotton Club she was noticed moving from a chorus line to Broadway to working with the Noble Sissle Society Orchestra.  At eighteen Lena made her first record.

Headlining with an all-white big band did not spare this young woman from ill treatment due to her race.  She did continue to attract attention for her talent, starring in films and being offered the first studio contract for an African American actress.  The NAACP supported and urged her to take roles other than those of maids or mammies.  It was a hard battle to wage.

During World War II she supported the troops eventually paying her own way due to continued discrimination.  After the war during the McCarthy era Lena Horne was blacklisted.  So she and her new husband Lennie Hayton worked to make her a nightclub star.  She was that and more.  She was a champion during the Civil Rights movement.  When life gave Lena sadness, Lena gave life her song and self.

When I read this book written by Carole Boston Weatherford for the first time, I stood at the kitchen counter not moving from beginning to the end but gasping from time to time.  The second time I read it was exactly the same. The presentation of this remarkable woman's life as written by Weatherford takes your breath away.

Well-researched and based upon a true personal connection to this musical wonder and civil rights activist, readers are immediately connected to the whole person of Lena Horne.  We follow her childhood from stability in Brooklyn to on the road with her mother.  We feel every sting of discrimination but see this woman rise up again and again.  Every place she went, everything she did shed a light of beauty on those around her.  Her strength and commitment spark a flame of inspiration through her story told by Weatherford.  Here are two more sample passages.

Respectable roles, though, were few for black actresses.
So Lena was cast, instead, in singing numbers that could be easily snipped from films when shown in the South so as not to defy racist views.

Lena dubbed herself "a butterfly pinned to a column."  She did get to fly in black films like Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather, whose title song become her anthem.  Even in black-and-white movies, this butterfly dazzled.


When you open the matching dust jacket and book case you are immediately struck by the inner and outer beauty of Lena Horne.  Illustrator Elizabeth Zunon chooses to feature her on the front in the dress she wore in Stormy Weather.  To the left, on the back, we see Lena as a little girl, surrounded by books.  She learned to read before she was in kindergarten.  The title text is raised.

The rich red rose color from the front of the jacket and case covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the end flaps a portion of a record provides the background for the text. A similar record is shown in greater detail on the title page at the top; supplying a canvas for the word Legendary.  Opposite the verso two stars feature the dedications.  On golden yellow like a stage Lena's quote appears on the right of a two-page picture.  A pale green stage curtain is drawn back to reveal it.

Rendered in oil paint and cut paper collage the images fashioned by Elizabeth Zunon are unique and lovely with every page turn.  Her mixture of textures is amazing.  A family tree has portraits hanging from it like leaves.  Loving parents smile with affection at baby Lena but we are aware of their talents.  Family photographs are nearly photographic.  The detail work in these illustrations is marvelous.  On some of the visuals Zunon has placed quotations in small asides as if stitched in place on fabric.

Perspective changes to reflect the narrative but also the emotion in a particular portion.  When Lena leaves Brooklyn to travel with her mother, all we see is the lower half of her body.  She is wearing a plaid dress.  Her hands are in front clasping a suitcase, feet in white ankle socks and black Baby Jane shoes, one toe pointing inward.  Zunon also alters her picture sizes, single pages, double page spreads and smaller pictures on one page.  

One of my favorite of many illustrations is on a single page.  Lena is seated in an aircraft during World War II.  She is surrounded by Tuskegee Airmen at their base in Alabama.  The pale golden color behind Lena and the pilots highlights their faces.  It's important the aircraft is shown in less detail drawing our attention to the people first.  This is based upon an actual photograph taken in 1945.


Whenever I can and as often as I can I will be talking about The Legendary Miss Lena Horne written by Carole Boston Weatherford with art by Elizabeth Zunon.  All readers will be lifted by this woman's courage and dedication.  Her talents and the changes she wrought for the good of many will never be forgotten.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal bookshelves.  There is a two page author's note and extensive bibliography at the end of the book.

To learn more about both Carole Boston Weatherford and Elizabeth Zunon and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  At the publisher's website you can view several of the interior images mentioned in this post.  Elizabeth Zunon is interviewed at All Over Albany and Book Q & A with Deborah Kalb.  There is a collection of video interviews of Carole Boston Weatherford at Reading Rockets.


Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week by those participating in the 2017 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.