The Horn Book Guide

BIOGRAPHIES

Cline-Ransome, Lesa

Just a Lucky So and So: The Story of Louis Armstrong

40 pp. | Holiday | April, 2016 | Trade ISBN 978-0-8234-3428-2 $16.95 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-8234-3598-2

(2) K-3 Illustrated by James Ransome. The story of Armstrong's childhood and early adulthood is told in two voices and two fonts: a black, sans serif font for the third-person account, and a colorful font for (undocumented) first-person quotations from Satchmo himself. While the illustrations maintain a consistently upbeat mood, the story is one of challenge and optimism. Details in a lengthy author's note are better suited to older readers.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2016