Back to Blog
Josephine by Patricia Hruby Powell6/9/2023 ![]() Although Powell's focus is on Baker, the contrast between segregated America and welcoming France will not be lost on readers. 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 childhood surrounded by music to her triumphs all over Europe followed, sadly, by debt and illness. Writing in free verse, former dancer Powell pays homage to the fabulous Josephine Baker. 14, 2014 A life devoted to self-expression through dance and racial harmony is celebrated in this lavish, lengthy picture book. Baker's entire life spreads out in this tapestry of words, from a St. by Patricia Hruby Powell illustrated by Christian Robinson RELEASE DATE: Jan. 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. ![]() 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. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |