God Bless the Child
Billie Holiday & Arthur Herzog Jr
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 HarperCollins/Amistad
ISBN: 0060287977

A big picture book about a family moving from the rural South during the Great Migration illustrating Billie Holiday's legendary song.

Jerry Pinkney's exquisite illustrations bring the haunting lyrics alive as they depict joyful moments in a family -- as they prepare for their day, labor in the fields; weigh & load cotton, & then pack up in their automobile, head north, leaving the only home they've ever known; on into the crowded city streets to begin working in cramped factories, of making money & friends. This is an extraordinary tribute to all those who have dared so much to get their own. Jerry Pinkney tells in the Artist's Note, how he came to draw his evocative images.

A CD of the great jazz vocalist Billie Holiday's timeless recording of God Bless the Child is included in the back, the perfect soundtrack to this delightful read.

A perfect gift for every family who has ever known struggle.

Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan Gough in 1913 in Baltimore, Maryland & changed her name to Billie after her favorite movie star, Billie Dove. As a child & in the beginning of her career, she endured many hardships until making her first recording in 1933 at the age of 18. Her voice & delivery brought her to stardom & 6 years later she introduced two of her best known songs: Strange Fruit & God Bless the Child.

Jerry Pinkney is the illustrator of more than 100 children's books. He is a five-time winner of both the Caldecott Honor & the Coretta Scott King Award, as well as numerous other honors. He has created art for the United States Postal Service's Black Heritage stamps. He lives with his wife, the author Gloria Jean & together they have 4 grown children.
(04/04/04)

Rebecca