For this month’s #6degreesofseparation, I do a song and dance routine of girl power (mostly) across forests, flowery fields, and factory floors. And since March 1st is the National Black Women in Jazz and the Arts Day, I also bring you a bevy of books that is sure to enthrall and educate.
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Shining Stars of Song and Dance and More!
For the Thursday Thirteen meme that I love to join in whenever I can!
Each of these books are picture book bios of amazing women of color in the arts, and for age-ranges starting from 3 years to 10 years of age (and up as well!). And each of these books is amazing and beautiful, like the women they portray!
- Art From Her Heart: Folk Artist Clementine Hunter by Kathy Whitehead and illustrated by Shane W. Evans
- Born to Swing: Lil Hardin Armstrong’s Life in Jazz by Mara Rockliff and art by Michele Wood
- Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins written by Michelle Meadows with art by Ebony Glenn
- Fancy Party Gowns: The Story of Fashion Designer Ann Cole Lowe by Deborah Blumenthal with art by Laura Freeman
- Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills by Renée Watson and illustrated by Christian Robinson
- Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell with art by Christian Robinson
- The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend by Ann Ingalls and Maryann Macdonald and illustrated by Giselle Potter
- Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar: The Musical Story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow
- The Met Faith Ringgold: Narrating the World in Pattern and Color (What the Artist Saw) by Sharna Jackson and illustrator Andrea Pippins
- Nina: A Story of Nina Simone by Traci N. Todd with art by Christian Robinson
- We Are The Supremes by Zoë Tucker with art by Salini Perera
- What I Must Tell the World: How Lorraine Hansberry Found Her Voice by Jay Leslie and illustrated by Loveis Wise
- When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Muñoz Ryan with illustrations by Brian Selznick
From Vision to Celebration: A Song and Dance of Stories
Prophet Song —> Factory Girls —> The Radium Girls —> The Poppy Lady —> The Tree Lady —> Wildwood Dancing —> Song and Dance Man —> Prophet Song
Today’s six degrees takes me across a wide range of books and for varied audiences as well! I have picture book bios and fantasy, fiction and non-fiction.
Prophet Song —> Factory Girls
The link: Ireland
Prophet Song – haven’t read it (yet again)
Prophet Song presents a terrifying and shocking vision of a country sliding into authoritarianism and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.
Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen is a “funny, fierce, and unforgettable read about a young woman working a summer job in a shirt factory in Northern Ireland, while tensions rise both inside and outside the factory walls.” Check out my review of the book here.
Factory Girls —> The Radium Girls
The link: Ireland
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore is a powerful, powerful read based on the true stories of America’s glowing girls who worked with radium day in and day out in the early twentieth century. I loved both this and the Young Reader’s edition of the book but never reviewed it (though mentioned them a couple of times on my blog). Another version is this graphic novel edition from Cy.
The Radium Girls —> The Poppy Lady
The link: girl power!
The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans by Barbara E. Walsh with art by Layne Johnson (7 – 10 years, and up). Check out my thoughts on this beautiful and inspiring read here, one that educated me on a story and a historical figure I had not known of before.
The Poppy Lady —> The Tree Lady
The link: girl power!
The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins with illustrations by Jill McElmurry (3 – 8 years, and up). I love this one! And reading stories like this is why I adore picture books. They introduce me to people, places, and concepts in such a compact yet beautiful way!
The Tree Lady —> Wildwood Dancing
The link: trees and woods! (and girl power!)
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier (12 years+) is now on my TBR. I love creative retellings of favorite and familiar fairy tales, and this one sounds like a promising reimagining of The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Wildwood Dancing —> Song and Dance Man
The link: dance
Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman with art by Stephen Gammell (3 – 7 years, and up). This one is a sweet lively and totally adorable read!!
Song and Dance Man —> Prophet Song
The link: The word “Song”
Circling back to the starter book with ‘song’ in the title!
And Now, the End of This Post
Dear reader, have you read any of these books – in the #6degrees chain, or in the 13 books about women of color? What would be in your chain starting with Prophet Song?
Well done on going full circle with your links!
Thank you for all these book suggestions. They all sound incredible! Song & dance is the best.
There are so many interesting books that you have highlighted. Factory Girls and The Radium Girls both look intriguing!
These beautiful books will be shared with my daughter. She needs to read books to become a better reader, and these stories are genuinely inspiring.
I’ve been wanting to read The Radium Girls for a long time now, I have to go ahead and just buy it! Thanks for the reminder!
The Puppy Girls sounds like a book that I need to read. So many books to check out.
These all sound like wonderful books, I haven’t read any of these before, so will add them to my wishlist
Song and dance are my way of breaking the ice in my life. They are my best source of showing my emotions. I also like all the book recommendations, they look good.
I love how you highlighted these inspiring women of color and their incredible contributions to the arts. The #6degrees of separation was such a fun way to connect these powerful stories, and I can’t wait to explore some of these books with my kids
Music and dance truly bring people together and create lasting memories ❤️. I’ll have to check out these books, thanks for sharing 🙂.
This is a great list! My little girl is into ballet and I think we would love Brave Ballerina. We will try to look for a copy. Thank you for sharing.