12) Jazz Age Josephine
Written by: Jonah Winter
Illustrated by: Marjorie Priceman
Scholastic, Inc.
20012
38 pages
Poetry
I chose this book because I'm a little more than a little obsessed with the Jazz Ages. I ordered it from Scholastic on a whim, and absolutely adore it! I didn't realize it was written in poetry until it came in.This book is about Josephine Baker, a singer, dancer, and actress who overcame adversity towards African Americans to make it big in show business both in America and in Paris, France. The book retells Josephine's life in an almost songlike form, which is very fitting for the theme of the book.
The illustrations in this book are nothing short of wild. They are done in watercolor and perfectly match the time period. They are all a bit characature-like, not as realistic as most. The illustrator did a great job of keeping things interesting by swapping between a double page spread and a single page spread. Each page has a whole new theme, making the book impossible to get bored with.
I would reccomend this book for elementary school students of any age. Even with older grades, this could be used in a research project. It could also be used in a poetry lesson. Of course, the most obvious is to use this book in a lesson on history. There are many things you could encorporate: black history, the jazz age, entertainment through the years, and many other things. I woud love to suggest this book to some of the little superstar girls in my class, though. :)
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