The green piano : how little me found music

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Title:

The green piano : how little me found music

Author:

Flack, Roberta, author.

Bolden, Tonya, author.

Goodman, Hayden, illustrator.

Summary:

Growing up in a Blue Ridge mountain town, little Roberta didn't have fancy clothes or expensive toys...but she did have music. And she dreamed of having her own piano. When her daddy spies an old, beat-up upright piano in a junkyard, he knows he can make his daughter's dream come true. He brings it home, cleans and tunes it, and paints it a grassy green. And soon the little girl has an instrument to practice on, and a new dream to reach for--one that will make her become a legend in the music industry. -- Amazon.

Audience:

Ages 3-7. Anne Schwartz Books.

Grades K-1. Anne Schwartz Books.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

34 unnumbered pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 27 cm

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Picture books.

Creative nonfiction.

Personal Subject:

Flack, Roberta-Childhood and youth-Juvenile literature.

Subject Term:

African American women singers -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Author(s):

Bolden, Tonya,

Goodman, Hayden,

Publisher:

Anne Schwartz Books,

Publication Date:

2023

ISBN:

9780593479872

9780593479889

Publication Information:

New York : Anne Schwartz Books, 2023.

Call Number:

P FLACK

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003660845	New Picture Books	FLACK	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

This autobiographical picture book by the multiple Grammy Award-winning singer Roberta Flack recounts her childhood in a home surrounded by music and love- it all started with a beat-up piano that her father found in a junkyard, repaired, and painted green.

Growing up in a Blue Ridge mountain town, little Roberta didn't have fancy clothes or expensive toys...but she did have music. And she dreamed of having her own piano.

When her daddy spies an old, beat-up upright piano in a junkyard, he knows he can make his daughter's dream come true. He brings it home, cleans and tunes it, and paints it a grassy green. And soon the little girl has an instrument to practice on, and a new dream to reach for--one that will make her become a legend in the music industry.

Here is a lyrical picture book--perfect for aspiring piano players and singers--that shares an intimate look at Roberta Flack's family and her special connection to music.

Author Notes

Tonya Bolden is the author of ten books, including "Strong Men Keep Coming", "The Family Heirloom Cookbook", & "33 Things Every Girl Should Know". She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 2--5--"Little Me" is pop legend Roberta Flack, who grew up in North Carolina, without "fancy-fine clothes, high-priced toys, or other richy-rich things." What she had was music: her self-taught father played harmonica and piano, her mother the church organ. At "three, maybe four," Flack was already performing at church, but she longed for a piano of her own. After the family's move to Virginia, her father rescued an "old, ratty, beat-up, weather-worn, faded thing" from a DC junkyard and lovingly resurrected it into nine-year-old Roberta's miraculous green piano, enabling her talents to flourish. "Grown-up me lived this dream!" The appended author's note and career time line make illuminating additions. VERDICT Lauded author Bolden assists Flack in telling her remarkable story; actor Freeman embodies their text, adapting her rich voice to "little me" of various ages, often over snippets of complementary music, from Beethoven to Flack's own "Killing Me Softly."

Publisher's Weekly Review

Music proves "My treasure./My gold" in this autobiographical picture book centering singer Roberta Flack (b. 1937). Raised without "fancy-fine clothes,/ high-priced toys,/ or other richy-rich/ things," Flack grew up in a musical household in Asheville, N.C., "tap-tap-tapp out tunes/ on tabletops,/ windowsills," and dreaming of owning a piano. After the family moves to Green Valley, Va., Flack's father spots an "old, ratty, beat-up, weather-worn, faded" piano in a junkyard, and as he fixes it up and paints it a "grassy green," Flack's dreams swell from piano lessons to a whole life "wrapped up in/ the majesty,/ the magic/ of music." Focusing on childhood dreams realized through persistence and effort, Flack and Bolden employ spare, matter-of-fact verse to share the story of this initial piano and the hope it represented. Goodman's digitally finished gouache portraits highlight young Flack and her piano with pops of green and gold, while swirling tendrils of color represent musical sound. An author's note and "career highlights" timeline conclude. Ages 4--8. (Jan.)