Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford

Becoming Billie Holiday

Carole Boston Weatherford

Astra Publishing House · Paperback · January 11, 2022

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award The stunning voice and hard life of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday is revealed through evocative, accessible poetry written by Children's Literature Legacy Award winner Carole Boston Weatherford.

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Who it’s for
Evocative, accessible poems bring Billie Holiday’s early life and hard-won musical dream into focus.
Themes
Poverty and survival, Musical talent, Pursuing a dream
Genres
Musicians' Lives for Kids, Jazz, Poetry

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About this book

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award The stunning voice and hard life of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday is revealed through evocative, accessible poetry written by Children's Literature Legacy Award winner Carole Boston Weatherford. In 1915, Sadie Fagan gave birth to a daughter she named Eleanora. The world, however, would know her as Billie Holiday, possibly the greatest jazz singer of all time.

Continue reading

Eleanora's journey to become a legend took her through pain, poverty, and run-ins with the law. By the time she was fifteen, she knew she possessed something that could possibly change her life: a voice. Eleanora could sing. Her remarkable voice led her to a place in the spotlight with some of the era's hottest big bands. Through a sequence of raw and poignant poems, New York Times best-selling and award-winning poet Weatherford chronicles the singer's young life, her fight for survival, and the dream she pursued with passion.

A Life in Verse

Evocative, accessible poems bring Billie Holiday’s early life and hard-won musical dream into focus.

Come here for

  • A poetic portrait of a legendary jazz singer’s young life
  • Music, hardship, and the determination to pursue a dream

Expect

  • Raw, poignant poems rather than a conventional biography
  • An accessible account of Billie Holiday’s path toward the spotlight

Where it sits

Musicians' Lives for Kids65%
Jazz38%
Poetry24%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Musicians' Lives for Kids
  • Cultural Heritage Biographies for Kids
  • Poetry
Authors
Carole Boston Weatherford
Publisher
Astra Publishing House
Published
January 11, 2022
Format
Paperback
Theme
Poverty and survival · Musical talent · Pursuing a dream
Reading lane
Musicians' Lives for Kids