Josephine The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker

Josephine The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker

Author: Patricia Hruby Powell

Illustration: Christian Robinson

Genre: Non-Fiction Biographical

Award: Coretta Scott King Award

Grade Level: 1^st- 5^th grade

“Life is a series of summits and behind each crest looms another peak to be scaled…”

The life of Josephine Baker. Looks so glamorous from the outside but there is more to that on the inside. This book is about the rise and fall of Josephine Baker that is told from when she was a child to her later years. The book is sectioned off to few chapters, The beginning, leavin’ with the show, my face isn’t made for sleeping, for the first time in my life, I felt beautiful, France made me what I am, and finally, Joséphine. The first chapter is about Josephine as a child growing up in Saint Louis, Missouri. She scrubs the floor with her mother while she hears ragtime music playing outside. All she dreams about is dancing and that’s all she does. She dances away to fight away cold. She dances to make herself happy. The second chapter deals with the start of Josephine’s career. She sees the riot around her town and she understands that there is definitely some limitation for colored skin people. But that did not stop her from feeling the music. One day, she discovers Jones family playing trombone outside of Booker T. Washington Theater. She charms the crowd and even The Dixie Steppers who invites Josephine to join them. She starts to get famous from going town to town and everyone starts noticing her. The third chapter, she travels around the US. From East to West she is recognized for her dance. She is famous and is loved yet she ponders why she is not allowed to join the table with white people. The fourth chapter, she moves to France where there is no segregation. She immediately falls in love with Paris. She charms the French by her dance and oh, the people of Paris falls into her graceful dance moves. She book show after shows and of course, it is always packed. The fifth chapter, she goes to America. She is determined to give a show in America. She thinks that since she is famous in Paris surely people in America will be most acceptable to her. Americans love her but she is still treated unequally and instead is called “Negro wench… buck-toothed.” But this doesn’t hurt her instead she is more than determined to fight for her race. She becomes a philanthropy activist by joining in the Red Cross and helping out the war victims. She helps around so much that she ends up exhausted with pneumonia at North African hospitals. The newspaper thinks she is dead but she bounces back to help all the French soldiers, American soldiers and allies. She asks all the black soldiers to sit together with the white soldiers. And never had she been happier. The last chapter, Josephine reflects on her life. She gets married and adopts 12 children from all over the world. She is aging so her shows are not as popular as before. She sells her clothes, her jewelry and finally her house to afford for her children. She goes to New York at Carnegie Hall. Scared at first thinking how the Americans treat her. She is surprised when she sees people with tears in their eyes. She realizes that America has finally changed and that America finally loves her. She goes back to Paris and searches for a theater that will accept her to present Joséphine. She sings and dances away till the very end when she goes to bed and never wakes up.

Thoughts:

Wow. I was blown away by Josephine story. I love that this book gives details of one of her lowest and highest point throughout the decade. The children will definitely want to read this book because of the colorful illustrations. They are illustrations are simple yet it is personal. The readers can clearly see the emotions that the characters are feeling, joy, sad, sympathetic, lonely. The story is told through poetry so in a way it is a poetry novel with illustrations. The texts are all of the different sizes. I like that that there are passages that have bold cursive writing. It is in that way for readers to pay close attention to as it conveys an emotional message. This book has fantastic vocabularies that children will definitely find it interesting. So keeping that in mind, I can use this book to introduce new vocabularies to my students. Great book!