jazz age josephine. jonah winter. illustrations: marjorie priceman.

josephine baker's autobiography has been on my to read list ever since i i read about her in sandra cisneros' caramelo.  introduced her into my life.  i wikipedia'd her and discovered she was more than just a songbird in a banana skirt!  baker was a civil rights activist, worked as a spy, and she was the original angelina jolie adopting kids from all over the world!  (i know so exciting!  i need to pick up her autobiography!)

so when i saw jazz age josephine in the scholastic book order form from my friend jess' class, i had to order it!  i mean it was only $4!  and what a wonderful investment.

this is a great children's book about a great woman!  to start its written like a jazz song with repetition and rhyme.  which makes it an entertaining read.  but what makes it special is how honest it depicts the life of josephine baker.

this story isn't sugarcoated.  josephine's life started out rough.  she grew up poor (the rhymes about her poverty could be lyrics for the supremes' love child) but her granny inspired her with dreams of a better life and being a princess.  the book presents her desire to avoid being depressed by her improverish life, she would act silly and dance.

it is then explained that josephine ran away to escape whites that burned down the black section of new orleans and joined a travelin' show.  josephine ended up in nyc, sleeping on a park bench.  a show director took pity on her and casted her in a show.  however, josephine was doing blackface and she decided "it was an insult to her race".  i thought it was great that the book mentioned how the racism of minstrel show, minstrels are a big part of america's social history and is often neglected when discussing racism in america.

josephine then escapes to paris and becomes famous and successful.  of course her cheetah, "chiquita" as mentioned too.

the story ended a bittersweet note, josephine wished that racism didn't drive her away from her home but happy that she became a jazz princess!

and of course their illustrations were spectacular as well.  here were some of my favorites:

this is a great book and if you have kids check it out for them because she is a great heroine not only for women but for black-americans.  this book ended up being my first black history month book, though as my friend juliana said, we should read books about important black-americans all year around just not in february.  but what an amazing woman, i can't wait to read her bio!