Jazz Age Josephine

* "Even though the ranks of picture-book biographies of significant artists (many of whom kids have likely never heard of) have swollen considerably in recent years, this one about the singer, dancer, and all-around entertainer Josephine Baker still manages to dazzle. Much of the credit for this goes to Winter, who only loosely follows the tried-and-true format of using the artist’s life as an inspirational model to embrace talent, work hard, overcome adversity, and follow one’s dreams. The biographical details—how she would dance on the streets of St. Louis for spare change as a girl, got her big break as a chorus girl in New York, and then found fervent acclaim in Paris as a “symbol of the American Jazz Age”—are covered in broad strokes, with more attention given to recreating the style and swagger of her onstage performances. With pages that sometimes have little more than riffs on “Boodle-am boodle-am boodle-am SHAKE,” Winter’s syncopated language dances nearly as much as the energized, loose-limbed figures in Priceman’s kinetic artwork to convey the spirit, as much as the life, of the subject. An author’s note supplies more concrete biographical details, but the true potential in this book lies in its ability to get little ones whipped up into an ebullient, dancing fizz, sharing in the joys of rhythm."
— BOOKLIST, November 1, 2011, *STAR