| Title | : | Jazz Age Josephine |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1416961232 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781416961239 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 40 |
| Publication | : | First published January 3, 2012 |
Singer, dancer, actress, and independent dame, Josephine Baker felt life was a performance. She lived by her own rules and helped to shake up the status quo with wild costumes and a you-can’t-tell-me-no attitude that made her famous. She even had a pet leopard in Paris!
From bestselling children’s biographer Jonah Winter and two-time Caldecott Honoree Marjorie Priceman comes a story of a woman the stage could barely contain. Rising from a poor, segregated upbringing, Josephine Baker was able to break through racial barriers with her own sense of flair and astonishing dance abilities. She was a pillar of steel with a heart of gold—all wrapped up in feathers, sequins, and an infectious rhythm.
Jazz Age Josephine Reviews
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Picture book about Josephine Baker.
Black History Month Read -
Gorgeous, fluid and colorful illustrations inspired by the style of Raoul Dufy. Story of young Josephine Baker’s life told in calligraphic images and rhymed verse with a blues cadence in the early part of her life and jazzy rhythms when she became a star in Paris. The story cuts off at the time of her youthful fame; I would have liked to see her later work in the French Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement. A note at the end mentioned that she adopted 12 (twelve!!!) children from around the world and called The Rainbow Tribe. (Twice as many kids as Angelina Jolie had & adopted.) Wouldn’t that have been fun to see in illustrations? Maybe this book needs a sequel...
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When we try to name the biggest and best picture book biography authors out there, two names spring immediately to mind. The first is David Adler. Mr. Adler specializes in picture books that go by the straightforward titles of "A Picture Book of [Enter Name Here]". It makes him easy to spot on a shelf. All his books look pretty much the same with stories that reduce their subjects to a couple key points. They are serviceable in the best sense of the term. They serve a purpose. They also couldn't be more different from the works of the great picture book biographer Jonah Winter. Where Mr. Adler is all white borders and straightforward fonts, Mr. Winter's books leap off the shelf and make a dive for your jugular. They pop and smack and wrest your attention away from the glittery fictional pack. His latest, Jazz Age Josephine, is no different. A witty and glam look at a person rarely seen in picture book bios, Winter uses his storytelling skills to spin the tale of a fine lady, never told in quite this way before.
"Well, she was born up in St. Louis, and she grew up with those St. Louis Blues / Yes, she was born in old St. Louis, and she grew up singin' nothin' but the blues, / She just had one old ragged dress and a pair of worn-out old shoes." That was Josephine Baker back in the day. Fortunately, the kid had pep. She could move and goof off and her dancing was so good that it earned her some money from time to time. Little wonder that when her home was burned by angry racists she headed straight for New York City. There Josephine was able to get some roles on the stage, but the minstrel parts were particularly galling. So off she flew to Paris and once she got there, "Paris, France - instant fame! / Everybody knows her name!" And though she missed her home, she was a jazz age baby and a hit at long last.
I did a cursory check of the reader reviews of this book online and saw that some folks were a bit peeved that Mr. Winter dared to mention hot topic issues like racism and minstrel shows. I think that highlights why it is that this is the first time such a biography for kids has been attempted (there was
Ragtime Tumpie by Alan Schroeder in 1989 but that just looked at Josephine's youth). The story of Ms. Baker is more difficult than your average Rosa Parks / Frederick Douglass bio. If you're going to talk about Josephine then you have to talk about why she left America. You have to talk about what the state of the country was at that time, and why she felt she couldn't return there. Then there are other issues as well. For one thing, is it possible to talk about Ms. Baker without mentioning the banana skirt? Winter doesn't talk about the costume (six-year-olds are notoriously bad at pronouncing the word "burlesque") but illustrator Marjorie Priceman does include a subtle glimpse of it from the side in two separate pictures. Meanwhile Mr. Winter does a good job of making it clear that Josephine was sad to be away from the States but that to become a star she had to go elsewhere. Interestingly the book ends at about that point, leaving the Author's Note to explain her work with the Civil Rights Movement.
Winter tends to have fun not just with what he says but with how he says it. In this particular case, he begins the sad story of Josephine's beginnings in the model of a blues song. And anytime something sad happens (say, getting your home burned down) the text turns into blues. The minute she hits Paris that all changes. Suddenly you move from the standard jazz poetry format to something more eclectic (not to say electric). If you've chosen to read this book aloud to a class of kids (A) Be sure to point out how awesome it would be to walk your pet cheetah down the street in the morning and (B) Practice your zee-buh-dops. For that matter, you'd better practice your Boh doh doh-dee-ohs and your zop zop zop zop zoo-buh-dop zows as well. Winter knows how add music to a readaloud without using a single note. Just make sure you've practiced beforehand.
Part of the delight of this book is the fact that Josephine's funny. And funny women do not appear in a heckuva lot of picture book biographies. Sometimes they will, but their jokey side will be hidden away from the world, leaving you to wonder if any one of them ever cracked a joke a day in their lives. There are a couple exceptions to this here and there, like Barbara Kerley's
What To Do About Alice : How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules Charmed the World and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy But generally speaking books that end with the heroine sticking out her tongue at the reader are few and far between. Those that you can find? Grab `em tight and don't let go.
One of these days someone is going to track down the leprechaun Mr. Winter used to get his wish to consistently be illustrated by the most interesting artists in the biz and then we'll all be in trouble. Honestly though, I don't know how the man does it. How has he managed to corral the talents of Ana Juan, Red Nose Studio, Jeannette Winter (that one I understand), Sean Qualls, Andre Carrilho, Raul Colon, Calef Brown, Kevin Hawkes, Barry Blitt, Richard Egielski, and so many others to his cause is a mystery. Many of these folks had never illustrated a work of nonfiction a day of their life, but there was something about Winter's style that enticed them. Now he's lured Caldecott Honor winner Ms. Marjorie Priceman. Turns out, she's a natural fit, and little wonder. Though she won an award for her perfectly nice
Hot Air: The Mostly True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride (no stranger to nonfiction she) it's her books like
Zin Zin Zin A Violin by Lloyd Moss or
Paris in the Spring with Picasso by Joan Yolleck that make it clear how perfect she'd be for this text. Picasso showed that she could capture Europe's Roaring 20s with the right verve and flair. Zin! showed that when it comes to pairing with delicious wordplay, Priceman keeps up her end of the bargain.
Goache and ink are the name of the game with this puppy. And Priceman pairs the big flashy images of Josephine with small stick figures of her dancing in a wild and kooky pattern on the pages. There's a great use of color too. From early browns and grays to the yellow spotlights of Broadway to the sheer overwhelming mass of color you get with Paris. In fact, the first time you even see Paris you have to tip the book on its side to just take in all the reds and oranges and purples on display. I love it when an artist makes you do something physically so that you get the point of the book.
The picture book format is necessarily limited so you won't find any mention here of Josephine's exciting work spying during WWII or really anything after the 20s. That's fine. The point of a picture book bio is, to a certain extent, to give kids a glimpse of history through a memorable person. With Jazz Age Josephine they learn about a kind of racism they might not encounter elsewhere and a person who was truly one-of-a-kind. Bouncy, rhythmic, funny, and fresh, if kids are assigned a biography of an African-American in school, forget handing them something rote and stodgy. Hand `em this. I guarantee that its equivalent is mighty hard to find.
For ages 6 and up. -
This is an excellent children's biography of Josephine Baker. Because it is a book for children, young children, the story ends with her success in Paris, and does not deal with her work in WWII. I mean, it's called Jazz Age for a reason. And, while the bananna skirt does make an appearance, there are no naughty bits.
What the book does extremely well, is illustrate the racism that Josephine faced as well as her determination to succeed. What is really wonderful is the use of language - you can see Etta James, say, singing this book. -
Boh-doh-doh-dee-oh! Boh-doh-doh-dee-oh!
Okay, now sing those words.
And while you are at it make them sound like some musical instrument. This is called
scat-singing made popular in the Jazz Age and a form that Jonah Winter doodles across the pages of his terrific picture book biography, Jazz Age Josephine. I made the mistake - or maybe not a mistake - of not reading this book beforehand and when I tried to sputter through the zee-buh-dop-zows and boh-doh-doh-dee-oh it did NOT sound like any musical instrument you'd find in any band. The kindergartners laughed so hard three grabbed their knees and rolled backwards like roly-poly eggs. And things got really interesting when we tried to do the Charleston dance. Let me tell you, I am NO Josephine. Josephine Baker to be exact.
African American Josephine Baker was singing the blues in St. Louis during the 1920s. She lived in a house with no heat, little food, and rats a-nibblin' at her feet. As a teenager she snuck into the dance tent and made people laugh with her funny faces and terrific dancing where she made some money entertaining people. One night in St. Louis, some white people burned down the homes of many black people and Josephine decided it was time to leave. She went to New York City where she got a job on the stage. She was in the chorus and played the
Minstrel. While audiences loved her, she was disgusted with the degradation of her race in the Minstrel role. She left for France where she found different stage roles and became famous.
The writing style combines riffs and rhythms to reflect jazz songs. If you are wondering what is a riff, like I was, it is a sentence that is repeated usually at the same part and in the same pitch.
The first part of the book trumpets rhyming couplets and riffs, People, listen to my story, 'bout a girl named Josephine. / People, listen to this story, 'bout a poor girl name of Josephine. / She was the saddest little sweetheart this side of New Orleans, while the second part of the book shimmy and shakes the riffs with scat-sentences such as, Boodle-am Boodle-am Boodle-am SHAKE! Boodle-am Boodle-am Boodle-am SHAKE! When Josephine goes to Paris, not only does the tone of writing change as it picks up a new beat to reflect the excitement of the stage, but the illustrator signals a change in the story direction by forcing the reader to tip the page up and down and illustrating Josephine at the Eiffel Tower. The setting now only shows Josephine in or besides the Paris theater house.
Can you tell the students favorite part of the book? That's right... the last page where Josephine is sticking out her tongue. Josephine is funny. Not only does she stick out her tongue, she crosses her eyes and bugs them out making audiences laugh. The author's note on the last page says that Josephine was so good at clowning in the show that she got a job on the New York stage at the age of 15. Kindergartners are not going to understand the complexity of this story but they do get the humor and enjoy the repetitive language patterns. Although one boy clearly understood when the black folks homes were being destroyed by white people because he shouted "meanies!" The kids also liked it when we danced the Charleston and they liked singing, Boodle-am Boodle-am Boodle-am SHAKE!
Priceman's use of ink pen and gouache illustrations move Josephine across the pages like a gymnast on a springboard. Josephine is energetic, fun, and flexible with the flapper costumes and hairstyles so reflective of the roaring 1920s. Priceman adds some tidbits to the story such as the illustration of Josephine in her most famous banana peel skirt costume. The colorful Josephine also had a cheetah as a pet and would bring it on stage. If you want students to hear some Jazz music, listen to
Louis Armstrong's Heebee Jeebies (the second audio clip) which made scat-singing famous. Make sure you read this book out loud or sing it.
Good luck!
Duh-duhnt-duhnt!
Reading Level 2.4
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All about how Josephine Baker became famous with her light-hearted dancing in spite of the racial hurdles she had to leap.
A difficult rhythm to read out loud, and the font coupled with the amount if words on each page makes this not my choice for a class story. I'm also wary of inspiring a student to study more, considering the risque nature of Ms. Baker's french act. -
Although it's early in the year, this new picture book by Jonah Winter about African-American singer and dancer Josephine Baker is already one of my favorites! Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis in a poor family, living in a shack with rats and no heat and went on to become an iconic performer in Paris, one of the symbols of the Jazz Age. At an early age, she learned to be a clown, dancing and making silly faces for money. Her talents would provide her a ticket out of what Winter calls the "general misery of her childhood." When she gets to New York, she winds up in the chorus line, where she performs in blackface. Looking for better opportunities, she left for France, which became her adopted country and where she wasn't "scorned for the color of your skin."
What's so special about this picture book? Several aspects make it a stand-out title. First, the rhythm of the text, which just demands to be read aloud, put to music and to become a dance number. Winter perfectly captures the vital rhythms of the dance age in the quirky rhythms of his poetry:
"Josephine, oh Josephine, you know you're in the big time now.
Josephine, oh Josephine,
grown up and in the big time now,
makin' people hoot and whistle
every night you take your bow."
And we can't forget the incredibly exuberant illustrations, done in gouache and ink, by two-time Caldecott honoree Marjorie Priceman, illustrator of Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin and others. You can see an extended excerpt of the artwork at Simon & Schuster's site. The vibrant colors, movement and energy of the artwork remind me of Matisse and other painters from Paris in the 1920's, and are a perfect fit for Winter's rhythmic text.
While this picture book does not detail all the aspects of Baker's life, an author's note provides some further biographical details on her history. This is a great title for both Black History Month and Women's History Month as well. -
The illustrations by (noted carefully on the book for buyers) a "two time Caldecott Honoree" will attract adults and children. But the text here is dreadful. Don't know if it's supposed to be verse, free verse or what, but for a poet Mr Winter here produces something that is awkward as hell to read out loud.
Having read Josephine Baker's adoptive son's bio of his mother many years ago, I know quite a bit about Josephine Baker's life and I don't think this does much service to it. Winter talks about Baker longing to go back to the US, but ignores that when she did visit, she encountered major prejudice and was happy to return to France. She loved France. One of her signature songs was "J'Ai Deux Amours"--"I Have Two Loves" and by that she meant both countries.
If you want a wonderful picture of Baker as a young girl, with well told prose and vivid art, go for Alan Schroeder's
Ragtime Tumpie. This one may appeal to a younger audience, but it isn't nearly as good. -
After watching "Midnight in Paris" a few times since this summer, I am now kind of an expert on 1920's Paris. Kidding. BUT my interest in that era is piqued extra high after the movie and I was extra curious to see how a picture book would handle Miss Josephine Baker. The colors, and rhythm and movement were just right. Fun and interesting book about a fun and intersting lady. Now I'm ready to read a grown-up biography about her.
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Words and images dance off the page in this frenetic book that tells the many obstacles Josephine Baker overcame to become a world famous dancer.
The illustrations and poetry are powerful, but I wish I could see this done as an animated short so I could really hear the music and see the dancing. -
I absolutely loved the artwork in this book--vibrant colors, perfect jazzy font, swirls of motion. It's an important and informative biography. Josephine Baker was committed to racial integration and equality during a pivotal time in history.
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Lively, colorful introduction to this fascinating entertainer.
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I read this with my daughter who is seven and a pretty good reader. It is told in verse which made it a little hard for her to understand.
It is about Josephine Baker who was a dancer in the early 1900's (I think the 1930's) in Paris.
It did get her interested in Josephine Baker so we youtubed some videos of her performances.
She makes really strange faces in the videos which was alluded to in the book. So, I am guessing that was her signature.
Until we watched her performances a few things in the book really didn't make much sense.
One other thing I think is important to note is that there is a lot of stuff in the book about Josephine's struggles as a black performer. Of course these struggles are important but trying to explain what blackface is and why it is bad to a seven year old wasn't something I was prepared for before cracking the spine of this book.
My general thoughts for other readers:
This book may be challenging for children to understand because of the writing style.
There may be content in the book that you will need to discuss with your children regarding the treatment of blacks in 1920's USA.
If you are a parent I would read it ahead of time first so you can talk about these deep topics appropriately.
Also, this makes made more sense to my daughter after we watched videos of some of Jospehine's performances and I suggest you do that before reading so book makes more sense and feels more relevant to your child. -
The book cover drew me in and then the rhyming, jazzy narrative took over. I learned so much about Josephine Baker's life and didn't realize how young she was when she entered show business or why she left America for Paris.
The illustrations with their movement and brilliant colors bring Josephine's story to life in a way that you want to read the book again to see what else you can discover.
A visit to Paris in the near future will give me cause to look for Josephine Baker landmarks. -
This is another children's biography by Jonah Winter; On the fence about the way the lyrical poem flowed. I liked the illustrations on the cover and pages 20, 27-28 and 31 (interestingly enough, this cover is similar to Patricia Hruby Powell's cover) but the other pages were a little too messy! This is not a knock to illustrator, Marjorie Priceman as she is a 2 time Caldecott Medal Honoree and I can't draw stick figures!
This biography was just ok for me plus last year I read Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell and I really liked that one a lot. -
The first lines were straight blues; even I was able to read them well. But when it got jazzy or whatever, it lost me. *But* that's on me. I am confident that this would be wonderful with the right narrator-reader.
But I'm reading a string of picture-book biographies and they seem to getting aimed younger and younger. I find it so dissatisfying to learn so little... even the author's notes and back matter aren't as helpful as I'd like. Baker sounds like an amazing woman and I'd like to have read more about her. -
I have mixed feelings about this book. There were some pages the flowed to me and then some that really didn’t. I felt myself getting drawn into the story and then completely disinterested a few pages later. The author’s note was interesting, especially learning that she adopted twelve kids from around the world (as another reviewer wrote, I would have loved an illustration that included her “Rainbow Tribe”)
My judgment: a decent children’s biography but definitely not my favorite. -
Wonderful illustrations and a fascinating subject make up for the awkwardness of the text. Written in verse, this picture book biography does not work well as a read aloud, but does offer a plethora of information on dancer Josephine Baker's life from her impoverished childhood to her fame in France (and all of the racism she faced in between).
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An interesting look at the life of Josephine Baker. I enjoyed the story and illustrations, but I found the text to be somewhat clunky. It sometimes has a lyrical feel and other times seems forced. Her story was unfamiliar and I look forward to checking out other stories about Josephine.
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Tells the story of Baker from childhood to becoming a star in rhythmic/song-like text.
There are a couple full pages of music-like (non-word) sounds.
The illustrations have a lot of movement to them in broad gouache and ink strokes. -
I have read a lot of picture books about Josephine Baker. I'm pretty it's like 4 already and there are more on the library wish list. This one talked about racism that she faced more than others I've read.
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This was a great book. We talked about the repeating lines and how they had small differences. Then we watched YouTube videos of Josephine doing the Charleston, singing in English and French. Really lovely read.
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Review to come.
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wonderful artist biography for a jazz age unit and history enhancing reading for individual/personal reading. The writing is fun to follow and reads like a blues song for me!
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Great read for Black History Month! Beautifully illustrated and touches on a few important moments in history in a approachable way.
