Picture Book Biographies and the Arts

​Lynette Smith and Carolyn Angus
 
The picture book biographies reviewed in this column introduce readers of all ages to creative individuals who have made notable contributions in the visual, literary, and performing arts. The books are good choices for reading aloud to spark interest and encourage discussion in classrooms, libraries, and homes as well as for independent reading.  

​Bea Breaks Barriers!: How Florence Beatrice Price’s Music Triumphed Over Prejudice. Caitlin DeLems. Illus. by Tonya Engels. (2024). Calkins Creek.
Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bea, who loved all types of music, gave her first piano recital at age four, excelled at school, and broke barriers. After graduation, she headed north with dreams of becoming a composer. Bea, one of two Black students at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, graduated with honors. She returned to Arkansas to teach in Black colleges, married, and moved to Chicago. Tonya Engels’ acrylic-and-oil paintings beautifully set the scene for Caitlin DeLems’ picture book biography of Florence Beatrice Price (1887-1953), who created many musical compositions including a symphony performed in 1933 at the Chicago World’s Fair and an arrangement of the traditional spiritual “My Soul’s Been Anchored in de Lord,” which was sung by contralto Marion Anderson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, but was largely overlooked until after her death. Back matter includes author’s and illustrator’s notes, a musical glossary, a timeline, archival photographs, a list of artists during the time period, and a bibliography. (PreK Up)
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​Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem: The Vision of Photographer Roy DeCarava. Gary Golio. Illus. by E. B. Lewis. (2024). Calkins Creek.
“It doesn’t have to be pretty to be true, but if it’s true, it’s beautiful. Truth is beautiful.” Gary Golio’s present-tense narrative with numerous quotes and E. B. Lewis’ expressive watercolor illustrations introduce readers to Black photographer Roy DeCarava (1919-2009), who gained worldwide recognition for his work. While working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1940s, DeCarava has his 35mm camera in hand as he moves through Harlem taking pictures of people walking through the neighborhood, lounging on their stoops, and playing in the street. Life does not pass Roy unnoticed; Roy and his camera see beauty everywhere in Harlem. Back matter includes an extensive author’s note, a timeline, archival photographs, a bibliography with sources of quotes cited, and a list of museums featuring DeCarava’s photographs. (PreK Up)  
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​Extraordinary Magic: The Storytelling Life of Virginia Hamilton. Nina Crews. (2024). Christy Ottaviano.
Nina Crews’ picture book biography of Virginia Hamilton (1934-2002), a compilation of 16 free verse poems and collage-style digital illustrations, focuses on her childhood. Growing up on her family’s farm in Ohio, Ginny, who was named for the state of Virginia, where her Grandfather Levi was born into slavery, was free to be a dreamer, a wanderer, and her own unique self. She believed words held extraordinary magic and loved listening to her family’s stories. When she was nine, she decided to become a writer and filled “The Notebook” with stories of her family’s love, losses, rage, and dreams. At 24, she moved to New York City. Her first book, Zeely, was published in 1967, and she won the Newbery Medal in 1975 for her novel M. C. Higgins, the Great. The back matter for this inspiring story of “the extraordinary magic” of Virginia Hamilton includes a bibliography, a selected list of Hamilton’s books, an author’s note, a timeline, and archival photographs. (PreK Up)
—LS

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​The Fastest Drummer: Clap Your Hands for Viola Smith! Dean Robbins. Illus. by Susanna Chapman. (2024). Candlewick.
Viola was the youngest of the Smith sisters to join the family jazz band. Her introductory efforts on the drums were offbeat and terrible. However, she had fun, and as she practiced hard her drumming became “bolder, flashier, and faster.” She toured the Midwest with her sisters until the family band broke up. Although it was considered unladylike to play jazz, Viola started her own women’s band, The Coquettes. She built her own drum kit and with her group became famous. Viola, who continued working as a percussionist and enjoyed playing different kinds of music until the age of 107, opened doors for other women instrumentalists and is recognized as one of the greatest drummers of all time. Susanna Chapman’s retro, mixed media illustrations for Dean Robbin’s energetic biography of Viola Smith (1912-2020) clearly depict the jazz musician and her bold, fast, flashy technique. Back matter includes an author’s note, a glossary of musical terms related to jazz, and resources. (PreK Up) 
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​Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin. Michelle Meadows. Illus. by Jamiel Law. (2024). Harper.
Powerful words and images tell the story of James “Jimmy” Baldwin (1924-1987), who grew up in Harlem loving stories and finding joy in music, books, and family. As a Black, gay man, however, Jimmy was familiar with the blues and dreamed of an equitable world filled with love. He used his powerful voice to write The Fire Next Time (1963), essays on racism, and to speak up for racial equality during Civil Rights demonstrations. The poetic style of Michelle Meadows’ text, coupled with Jamiel Law’s expressive illustrations, chronicles Jimmy’s life from a small shy boy who kids picked on, to becoming preacher as a teenager, to eventually returning to writing and creating a body of work that led to his recognition as one of the most influential literary figures of the 20th century. Back matter includes an author’s note, a list of Baldwin’s books, a timeline, and sources. (PreK Up)
—LS 

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​A Mind of Her Own: The Story of Mystery Writer Agatha Christie. Robyn McGrath. Illus. by Liz Wong. (2024). Beach Lane.
This picture book biography tells the fascinating story of Agatha Christie (1890-1976), from her childhood as a curious, imaginative girl to her recognition as “the Queen of Crime.” Although young Agatha has a mind full of stories, she struggles to get her ideas down on paper, teachers reject her efforts, and she stops writing. However, with a mind filled with possibilities following work as a nurse in a hospital caring for wounded World War I soldiers, Agatha accepts her sister Madge’s challenge to write a detective story. After years of putting together the puzzle pieces of solving a crime—Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?—in her head, writing, submitting, and persevering rejections, her manuscript is accepted and, as is shown in an illustration of Agatha happily reading a copy of her first published detective story, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), she is a published author. Back matter includes “More about Agatha Christie,” author’s and illustrator’s notes, a list of mystery vocabulary, and a bibliography) (PreK Up) 
—CA

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Signs of Hope: The Revolutionary Art of Sister Corita Kent. Mara Rockliff. Illus. by Melissa Sweet. (2024). Abrams.
Sister Corita Kent changed the lives of young people by using unique and creative methods to teach students in her messy, noisy classroom and, in the 1960s, transformed the art world with messages of love, hope, peace, and justice amid splashes of color and ad slogans. Her perspective was that “work is play, imagination means adventure, and there is no line between life and art.” Mara Rockliff’s lively text peppered with quotes and Melissa Sweet’s mixed-media collage illustrations entice the reader to join Sister Corita’s students in observing art in the ordinary by looking closely and carefully at the world a little at a time. Sister Corita was small in stature, but her artwork was “big and loud.” The back matter for this picture book biography of Corita Kent (1918-1986), known as the “Pop Art nun,” includes author’s and illustrator’s notes, a timeline, sources of quotations, and resources. (PreK Up) 
—LS ​

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​A Song for August: The Inspiring Life of Playwright August Wilson. Sally Denmead. Illus. by Alleanna Harris. (2024). Levine Querido.
A Song for August is a picture book tribute to Black American August Wilson (1945-2005), who is recognized as one of the greatest American playwrights. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August loved words and learned to read at the age of four, but he hated school where he was bullied. When a teacher did not believe that he had written his paper about Napoleon Bonaparte, he tore it up, walked out, and started going to the public library rather than to school. He learned everything about the Black experience that he could from reading books by Black authors and by listening to records including those of blues singer Bessie Smith. He also studied paintings by Black artists and took notes on conversations he overhead in his neighborhood. Wilson wrote his first full-length play, Jittney, in 1977, and went on to write a play about Black Americans for each decade of the 20th century. Back matter includes notes on Wilson’s Century Cycle and an author’s note. (PreK Up)
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​Whirligigs: The Wonderous Windmills of Vollis Simpson’s Imagination. Carole Boston Weatherford. Illus. by Edwin Fotheringham. (2024). Calkins Creek.
The whimsical illustrations in this picture book biography take readers on a spinning journey into the life of Vollis Simpson (1919-2013). One of 12 children growing up on a farm in North Carolina, Vollis was tinkering and fixing things before he could read. “If you don’t try something, he figured, you don’t learn anything.” While in the army air corps during World War II, he built a wind-powered washing machine out of salvaged airplane parts and a motorcycle from a bike. After leaving the army, Vollis ran a machine-repair shop and house-moving business in his hometown of Lucama, North Carolina. Later, after he was injured, his life changed. Bored with watching television, he began building windmill-like sculptures on the family farm, and his passion for creating things from metal scraps resulted in a colorful spinning field of windmills. Back matter contains an author’s note and photographs of Simpson’s wonderous windmills. (PreK Up) 
—LS

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​The Wire Zoo: How Elizabeth Berrien Learned to Turn Wire into Amazing Art. Natasha Wing. Illus. by Joanie Stone. (2024). Paula Wiseman.
Young Elizabeth loved animals and attempted to draw pictures of them as she saw them in her mind with beautiful energy lines moving across their bodies, but her portraits were always just scribbles. She tried other art forms with no success until Mr. Corran, the instructor in an experimental sculpture class, encouraged her to “think of things in terms of problem solving.” When he gave Elizabeth a roll of thin wire, she twisted and bent it into the shape of a cat, and with continued experimentation, she began creating three-dimensional wire sculptures of animals. The back matter of this picture book biography of Elizabeth Berrien (b. 1950), the “Godmother of Wire,” includes more about the “wire zoo” of animals she continues to create that are exhibited worldwide and photographs.  (PreK Up) 
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Lynette Smith is a member of the Contributing Faculty of Walden University’s Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership. Carolyn Angus is former Director of the George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, California.