cbr14bingo Star Level 1
I have found and refound a couple performers recently due to picture books. The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music by Roberta Flack is how Flack found her voice via her old, painted green piano. I never had heard of her (or if I had, I had forgotten) and I now need to find music by here. The other person found (which was a refound, as I had heard of her before but had forgotten) was Sister Rosetta Tharpe (she’ll be in another review).
Growing up in a Blue Ridge Mountain town, Roberta did not have fancy clothes or toys, but she had a family who played music. When her father finds a beat up, old one in a junkyard, he takes it home, fixes it up and paints it green for Roberta to play. And the rest is history. And music.
Along with Tonya Bolden, Flack shows us how she lived, laughed, and loved; and not to mention how she played. The great part of the story is that, while it is wonderful that we are learning about someone the odds are we are not familiar with, this is just a good
story about trying and not letting your circumstances stand in your way. This could be an all-ages book, but probably best for the aged five and up reader. It could work for a read-aloud, solo reading time, or as a group read aloud.
And Hayden Goodman’s illustrations are a fun and delightful treat, complimenting the text and bringing everything into full color.
