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. Cool Mom Picks Powell writes with great reverence and a vigorJulie Danielson of 7 Impossible Things a gripping tale.Denver Post 1/8/14 I love how (the book) JOSEPHINE is, like the real Josephine, a rare creature.Richie. Louis childhood surrounded by music to her triumphs all over Europe followed, sadly, by debt and illness. Josephine: A children’s book as complex, vibrant, and endearing as Josephine Baker herself. Baker's entire life spreads out in this tapestry of words, from a St. Patricia Hruby Powell Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker Hardcover Illustrated, 1 February 2014 by Patricia Hruby Powell (Author), Christian Robinson (Illustrator) 236 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle 11.35 Read with Our Free App Hardcover 31.19 1 Used from 12.21 16 New from 20.09 Audio CD 52. Louis to the grandest stages in the world. 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. Coretta Scott King Book Award, Illustrator, Honor In exuberant verse and stirring pictures, Patricia Hruby Powell and Christian Robinson create an extraordinary portrait for young people of the passionate performer and civil rights advocate Josephine Baker, the woman who worked her way from the slums of St.

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.

Josephine by Patricia Hruby Powell