(2) K-3 Illustrated by Lewis E. B.. "SNAP!" The camera clicks on a young boy creating chalk art. "SNAP!" The camera finds a crumpled soda can on the street. Photographer DeCarava (1919–2009) depicts the people, places, and spirit of Harlem. A spare, poetic text emphasizes his love for the neighborhood where he grew up, which was the subject of his long, prolific career. In addition to his photography and other artwork, DeCarava also taught for more than three decades. Lewis's realistic illustrations take on a painterly tone with soft, muted colors and effective play between light and shadow. The watercolors create a fluid, dreamy world where DeCarava could quietly snap away while walking the streets of Harlem on a warm, sunny afternoon. The pictures portray a neighborhood in motion, not directly aware of the artist who spent a lifetime reflecting the vibrancy of a place and people. Back matter gives biographical information and a timeline of the artist's life, providing a more complete picture of one of the most influential Black photographers of our time.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by James Ransome. When, in 1959, the renowned jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins takes a break from a successful career to hone his skills, he finds the perfect place to do so. Discouraged from practicing in his apartment because the neighbors complain about the noise, Sonny retreats to the ideal setting, NYC's Williamsburg Bridge, where he ascends the stairs and "strolls above / the sprawling / spider city / with / millions of lives / lights / movement and speed / lots of / sound / & / lots of / noise" to blow his horn as loudly as he pleases. Practicing there for two years, he engages in electrifying call-and-response improvisations with the sounds around him, "tugboats / blowing bass notes / back / and forth / Sonny answering / ­note-for-note / with / low moans / of his / own." Following the return to his career, he records an album titled The Bridge. Golio is known for his picture-book biographies about musicians (Carlos Santana, rev. 11/18; Dark Was the Night, rev. 8/20), and here his precise and expressive free verse is well paired with Ransome's (Overground Railroad, rev. 3/20; Northbound, rev. 1/21) evocative art. In beautiful watercolor and collage, Ransome splendidly captures both the vibrant spirit of the city and the luminous persona of the jazzman. Back matter includes information about Rollins's career and the Williamsburg Bridge as well as some of Rollins's own words.

Reviewer: Pauletta Brown Bracy | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(2) K-3 Illustrated by E. B. Lewis. Little is known about the childhood and early life of Willie Johnson, the legendary bluesman known as Blind Willie whose recording of his song "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" was included on the Golden Record on NASA's 1977 Voyager 1 space probe. Lewis's watercolors provide the perfect complement to Golio's spare second-person prose: "In a dark, quiet room, your voice poured into a microphone, slid down some wires, and scratched itself into a wax disc." The contrast between the bright yellows of Johnson's Texas birthplace and the star-filled vistas of deep space parallel Johnson's loss of vision as a young boy. In a series of double-page spreads, Golio and Lewis trace the path of Johnson's musical career: his first cigar box guitar, singing in church, learning to play slide with the edge of his pocket knife--all leading to the day Johnson lays down his first recordings. Back matter reveals the challenges of writing a biography of someone about whose early life little is known, and also gives more detailed information about NASA's Golden Record and the Voyager 1 space probe.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Ed Young. While based on cited research, this biography doesn't quite bring to life Chaplin's groundbreaking artistry. The free-verse text, rhyming occasionally and erratically, unpredictably switches from silent film cards to text blocks within illustrations.Young's collage and ink art, which is full of texture, color, and pattern, doesn't capture facial and body expression--a strange choice for a book about a celebrated visual communicator. Reading list.

Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. Golio presents an account of Santana's boyhood growing up in the birthplace of mariachi music--Jalisco, Mexico--and later moving with his family to Tijuana, where his father buys him his first guitar. The biography focuses on the centrality of family, despite Santana's at-times contentious relationship with his father. Brown faces predominate in the swirling, psychedelic, sixties-inspired acrylic illustrations. An author's note contextualizes Santana's place in American pop culture. Bib., glos.

Reviewer: Lettycia Terrones | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2018

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb. Jazz pillar Billie Holiday pushed racial boundaries throughout her career, most notably with her first soul-piercing performance in 1939 of the anti-lynching song "Strange Fruit." A dense but age-sensitive text ably handles the topics of racism and trauma, while whirlwind acrylic and tissue-collage illustrations deftly capture the emotional upheaval of Holiday's life. The song lyrics and additional background information are appended. Bib.

Reviewer: Anastasia M. Collins

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Ed Young. Golio distills the relationship between John "Diz" Gillespie and Charlie "Bird" Parker into one electric jam session, detailing the back-and-forth nature of their improvisational synthesis in expressive, vibrant language. Young's uninterrupted frieze on accordion-bound heavy paper stock extends from the covers in a continuous panel. The words and imagery capture the controlled, explosive frenzy of their musical collaboration. An afterword offers more straightforward information.

Reviewer: Thom Barthelmess | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2015

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. This picture-book biography (best for older children and young teens) successfully describes Coltrane's music and what made it distinctive. The sophisticated illustrations show faces with almost photographic realism, while the lines depicting the background scenes are intentionally distorted and abstracted into swirling shapes. Thus the art ingeniously gets across the story's intangibles: Coltrane's pain, his drug-addled mind, his spirituality, and his music. Discography, reading list, website.

Reviewer: Kathleen T. Horning | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2012

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Marc Burckhardt. This full-hearted book celebrates Dylan's pursuit of, and eventual life-changing meeting with, his ailing idol, populist folkie Woody Guthrie. It's a lovely commemoration of a legendary encounter, with much dutiful ramp-up about Dylan's younger days. Each of Burckhardt's crackle-surfaced paintings, whether a vignette or a double-page spread, is beautifully composed to thoughtfully and effectively highlight the events. Bib.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Javaka Steptoe. Golio ably introduces young readers to the rock legend by describing his humble childhood (he was raised by a cash-strapped single dad), first guitar (purchased from the landlady's son for $5), and creative drive ("He wondered: Could a person use music / like chalks and colored pencils?"). Steptoe accommodates the poetic, shape-shifting text in his heavily worked-over mixed-media illustrations. Websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Nell Beram