★"Captivating… a fun, enriching, and holistic reading experience."
—School Library Journal, starred review
Coretta Scott King Book Award, Illustrator, Honor
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award, Honor
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Nonfiction Honor
Parent's Choice Gold Medal for Poetry 2014
Wall Street Journal’s 10 Best Children's Books of the Year List
Bologna Ragazzi Nonfiction Honor 2014
In exuberant verse and stirring pictures, Patricia Hruby Powell and Christian Robinson create an extraordinary portrait for young people of the passionate performer and civil rights advocate Josephine Baker, the woman who worked her way from the slums of St. Louis to the grandest stages in the world. Meticulously researched by both author and artist, Josephine's powerful story of struggle and triumph is an inspiration and a spectacle, just like the legend herself.
★“Powell and Robinson create a biography of a woman whose life and art are inseparable.”
—Shelf Awareness for Readers, starred review
★“Captivating… a fun, enriching, and holistic reading experience.”
—School Library Journal, starred review
“A picture book that simply will not quit.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Author Patricia Hruby Powell casts Josephine Baker’s story as a triumph of a strong, determined African-American woman over prejudice and parochialism. And it makes for a gripping tale.”
—The Denver Post
"Scrupulously researched, high-spirited celebration of the color-line-crossing dancer."
—The Los Angeles Times
"This beautifully designed picture book presents the amazing life of American expat entertainer Josephine Baker in vibrant free verse with Christian Robinson's stunning, stylized acrylic paintings."
—The San Francisco Chronicle