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!

kiki de monteparnasse. catel & bocquet. (154)

i came across kiki de monteparnasse on amazon and of course the cover inspired my man ray's famous photograph i had to check it out.  i figured a book about the model for man ray had to be interesting.  and it was!

as you have seen in this blog, i fell in love  with the lost generation thanks to woody allen's midnight in paris.  so i was excited to read and learn about kiki.  prior to this i had no knowledge though i had seen her back.

my post on kiki's memoirs discussed the stories i enjoyed from her life so i will share what shocked me and some of my favorite illustrations.

i was shocked by the drug use.  i always think of coke as an 80s thing but it has been around for a while.  i mean i remember how shocked i was when i discovered this lyric in cole porter's i get a kick out of you:

some, they may go for cocaine.

i'm sure that if i took even one sniff

it would bore me terrifically, too.

yet i get a kick out of you.

but was still surprised when i saw it in kiki's life though not completed shocked because she was a party girl as seen in these illustrations:

i was also surprised by how many men offered to pay her for flashing them.  i mean i guess its better than prostitution.  i mean a peek for some money, i can understand why she did it.

of course there was a bunch of nudity and sex.  she did pose nude and have alot of sex with artists.  again i don't blame her if i was in paris during this time i would have been the same way!

of course the book covered her relationship with man ray.  how they created beautiful art together but how their love was also destructive.  it was seen how kiki wanted to be a mother yet man ray didn't want kids, showing a more softer side of kiki.

the book also covered the time in jail

she mentioned in her memoirs.  it also showed her decline.  it was difficult to see her abused by marcel when she seemed to be an nonsense kind of girl

her whole life.  and like every too glam celeb, drugs took a hold of her and ruined her life.   it was also sad to see her life end due to drugs and alcohol.  if kiki was around in the 90s her life story would have made a great vh1 behind the music episode.  kiki had some hard times but she still lead an exciting life and contributed so much to the art community.  

being a graphic novel it was filled with wonderful illustrations.  i really loved the ones of photographs i saw in her memoir:

i especially found the ending illustration beautiful:

i will add that the chronology at the end of the book left me wanting to read more about kiki.   it also got me interested in man ray and i will have to pick up his bio.

kiki de monteparnasse was an interesting read to add to my knowledge of an era i love.