The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend - Hardcover

Ingalls, Ann; Macdonald, Maryann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618959742 ISBN 13: 9780618959747

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2010

Synopsis

What if you loved music more than anything? Suppose you had just learned to play the piano. Imagine that your family has to move to a new city and you have to leave your piano behind. People don’t like you in the new city because of  what you look like. How will you make yourself feel better? Mary Lou Williams, like Mozart, began playing the piano when she was four; at eight she became a professional musician. She wrote and arranged music for Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and was one of the most powerful women in jazz. This is the story of Mary Lou's childhood in Pittsburgh, where she played the piano for anyone who would listen.

About this title

About the Author:

Ann Ingalls and Maryann Macdonald are sisters and lifelong music lovers. Ann lives in Kansas City, and Maryann lives in New York. This is Ann's first book, and Maryann's twenty-second.

Review:

"Acknowledging Mary's long, worldwide career as an elegant, accomplished performer "in beautiful shoes," this sweet tribute neatly fills a niche in the panoply of titles about jazz greats."—Kirkus

"Potter's naive, doll-like figures, poised in their slightly tipsy, extravagantly patterned domestic settings, recall the mannered portraiture of the colonial period. With a steadily growing collection of picture books on jazz greats now available for the storytime set, it's nice to see a strong female musician take her place on the shelves."—Bulletin

About this edition

• Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0618959742
• ISBN 13: 9780618959747
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Potter Giselle