In exuberant verse and stirring pictures, Patricia Hruby Powell and
Christian Robinson create an extraordinary portrait of the passionate
performer and civil rights advocate Josephine Baker, the woman who
worked her way from the slums of St. Louis to the grandest stages in the
world. Meticulously researched by both author and artist, Josephine's
powerful story of struggle and triumph is an inspiration and a
spectacle, just like the legend herself.
Josephine is the winner of a Boston Globe Horn Book Nonfiction Honor 2014; International Bologna Ragazzi Nonfiction Honor 2014; Parents Choice Gold for Poetry 2014; Robert F.Sibert Honor 2015; Coretta Scott King Illustration Honor 2015.
Publishers Weekly Starred Review
11/1/2013
«“Baker’s entire life spreads out in this tapestry of words.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Full Review:
Segregated American clubs were willing to let African-American dancer
Josephine Baker (1906–1975) perform, but they wouldn’t let her use the
front door. Powell (Frog Brings Rain) chooses a potent metaphor for
Baker’s hidden anger: “hot magma, molten lava, trapped within.” When
Baker arrived in France, the country embraced both her artistry and her
blackness, and “Her deep volcanic core—filled with emotion, filled with
music—erupted.” Robinson (Rain!) draws round faces gazing with amazement
at the woman onstage whose pearl necklace flies one way and whose hips
swing the other. Baker’s entire life spreads out in this tapestry of
words, from a St. Louis childhood surrounded by music to her triumphs
all over Europe—followed, sadly, by debt and illness. Robinson’s naif,
folk-style figures look like puppets, and make some grim moments easier
to endure (“Those ugly rumors incited some white folks/ to beat, murder,
and burn black East St. Louis”). Although Powell’s focus is on Baker,
the contrast between segregated America and welcoming France will not be
lost on readers.
Kirkus Reviews Starred Review
11/1/2013
« “An extraordinary dancer and woman is here celebrated with style and empathy.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Full Review:
A life devoted to self-expression through dance and racial harmony is celebrated in this lavish, lengthy picture book.
Writing in free verse, former dancer Powell pays homage to the
fabulous Josephine Baker. Baker rose from a childhood of poverty and
race riots in St. Louis, Mo., to dance in New York and Paris, the city
where she finally achieved fame and escaped American segregation and
racism. Grateful to the French, she worked as a spy during World War II
and later adopted 12 children from around the world: She called them her
Rainbow Tribe. The author excels at describing Baker’s innovative and
memorable dance routines and her fantastical life in Paris, where she
walked her pet leopard, each adorned with a diamond choker. The book is
arranged as stage acts, each covering a segment of her story. With this
device, Powell and Robinson create an air of expectancy before the
curtain rises and a time to reflect and admire as it falls in front of a
stage strewn with flowers. Robinson’s stunning acrylic paintings depict
elongated figures and recreate Baker’s movements and costumes with
verve and dynamism. The page design features well-placed text,
occasional quotes and vibrant hues, further complementing its striking
subject.
An extraordinary dancer and woman is here celebrated with style and empathy.
School Library Journal starred review
March 2014
“Captivating… a fun, enriching, and holistic reading experience.”—School Library Journal, starred review
This charming biography invites readers to step inside the vibrant
and spirited world of performer and civil rights advocate, Josephine
Baker. Robinson’s paintings are as colorful and rich as Josephine
Baker’s story, offering page after page of captivating and animated
illustrations and rhythmic text, which is written in blank verse. In a
few short and well-organized parts, readers learn the story of one of
the world’s most well known female performers who danced and sang her
way from the poor and segregated streets of St. Louis to the dazzling
stages of Paris all the way to Carnegie Hall. Text and illustrations
work in tandem to accurately document Josephine’s extraordinary life and
the era in which she lived. Clear and lively descriptions of
Josephine’s story play out creatively in the text, introducing readers
to basic principles of poetic structure in storytelling and offering an
accurate portrait of a woman who fought for racial equality and civil
rights through her life’s passion: performance. Reluctant readers of
nonfiction and poetry lovers alike will be drawn to this book’s musical,
theatrical nature, making for a fun, enriching, and holistic reading
experience. This unique and creative work is a first purchase.
Patricia Hruby Powell (Blossom Tales) begins this biography of the
larger-than-life Josephine Baker (1906-1975) with her 1927 quote, “I
shall dance all my life…. I would like to die, breathless, spent, at the
end of a dance.” Rhythmic language provides the beat to this life well
lived, and chronicles how Baker fulfilled her wish, dying after a
triumphant opening at the Bobino theater in Paris, at age 69.
Shelf Awareness for Readers Starred review
January 17, 2014
“Powell and Robinson create a biography of a woman whose life and art
are inseparable.”—Shelf Awareness for Readers, starred review
The pleasingly flat-planed folk-art style of Christian Robinson
(Harlem’s Little Blackbird) works to dramatic effect. Drab background
colors as Josephine’s mother scrubs floors to support the family give
way to a bright white backdrop of vaudeville dancers on the next page,
the manifestation of the woman’s own dreams of dancing. He follows
Tumpy, the childhood incarnation of Josephine, as she transforms into a
dancer whose “knees squeeze, now fly/ heels flap and chop/ arms scissor
and splay/ eyes swivel and pop.” A teenage Josephine, suspended above
the stage as Cupid, seems to swing off the page, her arms and legs
pumping as if with a child’s joy on a playground swing. Powell suggests
that Baker’s witness of the East Saint Louis riots seeded “the core of a
volcano” that she’d later channel into her dances. Although Baker never
felt fully at home in the U.S., she found one in France, and worked in
the French Resistance.
Powell and Robinson create a biography of a woman whose life and art
are inseparable. Josephine Baker did exactly what she set out to do: she
danced all her life
Shelf Awareness Book Review: “…staccato phrases move like music…”
Children’s Review: Josephine
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell , illus. by Christian Robinson (Chronicle, $17.99 
hardcover, 104p., ages 7-10, 9781452103143, January 14, 2014)
Patricia Hruby Powell (Blossom Tales) begins this biography of
the larger-than-life Josephine Baker (1906–1975) with her 1927 quote,
“I shall dance all my life…. I would like to die, breathless, spent, at
the end of a dance.” A dancer herself, Powell uses rhythmic language
like the beat to this life well lived, and chronicles how Baker
fulfilled her wish, leaving this life after a triumphant opening at the
Bobino theater in Paris, at age 69.
Christian Robinson’s (Harlem’s Little Blackbird) pleasingly
flat-planed, folk-art style works to dramatic effect. Drab background
colors as Josephine’s mother scrubs floors to support the family give
way to a bright white backdrop of vaudeville dancers on the next page,
the manifestation of the woman’s own dreams of dancing. He follows
Tumpy, the childhood incarnation of Josephine, as she transforms into a
dancer whose “knees squeeze, now fly/ heels flap and chop/ arms scissor
and splay/ eyes swivel and pop.” A teenage Josephine, suspended above
the stage as Cupid, seems to swing off the page, her arms and legs
pumping as if with a child’s joy on a playground swing. Powell suggests
that Baker’s witness of the East Saint Louis riots seeded “the core of a
volcano” that she’d later channel into her dances.
Creative use of type and design lay out the text like poetry; italics
indicate original quotes (attributed on an end page). Brief staccato
phrases move like music (“she stumbled off balance on elastic legs–/ on
purpose–/ looked up in surprise,/ dropped her elbows/ like limp
washcloths,/ crossed her eyes, flashed a smile./ And the audience
laughed”). Powell lays out the realities of segregation in the United
States for a touring Josephine and, by contrast, the warm welcome she
received in France. The author suggests, however, that even after
headlining at the Folies Bergère in Paris, Baker never quite felt at
home in her native land. She became “the first and only Negro star” of
America’s Ziegfeld Follies, yet had to enter her hotel through the
servants’ entrance. Powell discusses Baker’s work in the French
Resistance and how she lived out her philosophy through her “rainbow
tribe”–12 children she and her husband adopted from around the world and
raised in their own religions.
Powell and Robinson create a biography of a woman whose life and art
are inseparable. Josephine Baker did exactly what she set out to do: she
danced all her life. –Jennifer M. Brown
