Becoming Billie Holiday

by Carole Boston Weatherford (Author) Floyd Cooper (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

Before the legend of Billie Holiday, there was a girl named Eleanora.

In 1915, Sadie Fagan gave birth to a daughter she named Eleanora. The world, however, would know her as Billie Holiday, possibly the greatest jazz singer of all time.

Eleanora's journey into legend took her through pain, poverty, and run-ins with the law. By the time she was fifteen, she knew she possessed something that could possibly change her life--a voice. Eleanora could sing. Her remarkable voice led her to a place in the spotlight with some of the era's hottest big bands. Billie Holiday sang as if she had lived each lyric, and in many ways she had.

Through a sequence of raw and poignant poems, award-winning poet Carole Boston Weatherford chronicles Eleanora Fagan's metamorphosis into Billie Holiday. The author examines the singer's young life, her fight for survival, and the dream she pursued with passion in this Coretta Scott King Author Honor winner. With stunning art by Floyd Cooper, this book provides a revealing look at a cultural icon.

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School Library Journal

Starred Review
Gr 8 UpIn this fictionalized memoir, Weatherford has composed nearly 100 first-person narrative poems that detail Holiday's life from birth until age 25, the age at which she debuted her signature song, "Strange Fruit." The poems borrow their titles from Holiday's songs, a brilliant device that provides readers with a haunting built-in sound track. Weatherford's language is straightforward and accessiblealmost conversational. She captures the woman's jazzy, candid voice so adroitly that at times the poems seem like they could have been lifted wholesale from Holiday's autobiography, "Lady Sings the Blues". Cooper's sepia-toned, nostalgic, mixed-media illustrations provide an emotional counterpoint to the text. Resembling old photographs seen through a lens of aching hindsight, they make explicit the pain that Weatherford studiously avoids giving full voice to in her poems. Although Holiday's early life was one of relentless rejection, discrimination, and poverty, the author stays true to her subject and maintains a resolute and defiant tone, albeit one tinged with regret. Prostitution, rape, jail time, and violence are mentioned, but the book ends on the proverbial high note, before the singer's drug use, alcoholism, and early death. This captivating title places readers solidly into Holiday's world, and is suitable for independent reading as well as a variety of classroom uses."Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD" Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

* "The poetry is rich and evocative. . . . A remarkable tribute well worthy of its subject." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Readers will find a generous assortment of recommended reading and listening at the end of this proud, clear-voiced testimonial." —Booklist

* "[Weatherford] captures the woman's jazzy, candid voice so adroitly that at times the poems seem like they could have been lifted wholesale from Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. . . . This captivating title places readers solidly into Holiday's world, and is suitable for independent reading as well as a variety of classroom uses." —School Library Journal, starred review
Carole Boston Weatherford
New York Times best-selling author Carole Boston Weatherford's 60-plus books include the Caldecott Honor book Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, for which she was awarded the Coretta Scott King Author Award and a Sibert Honor; the Newbery Honor winner Box; and the Caldecott Honor winners Freedom in Congo Square, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Moses. She won a Coretta Scott King Author Honor for Becoming Billie Holiday. Weatherford teaches at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. Visit cbweatherford.com.

Floyd Cooper (1956-2021) illustrated over 110 books for children, including Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford, for which he was awarded a Caldecott Honor, the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, and a Sibert Honor. He was also the recipient of the CorettaScott King Award for The Blacker the Berry; three Coretta Scott King Honors for I Have Heard of a Land, Meet Danitra Brown, and Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea; 10 ALA Notables; and an NAACP Image Award, among other honors. Visit floydcooper.com.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781635925579
Lexile Measure
970
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Wordsong
Publication date
January 20, 2022
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF007050 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Cultural Heritage
JNF007040 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Music
JNF036040 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Music | Jazz
Library of Congress categories
African Americans
Novels in verse
Holiday, Billie
Coretta Scott King Award
Honor Book 2009 - 2009
Tayshas Reading
Commended 2010 - 2010

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