Josephine

By Patricia Hruby Powell, Christian Robinson (illustrator),

Book cover of Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker

Book description

An emotionally powerful biography told in verse of a dancer, singer, comedienne, and enduring figure - Josephine Baker - from her birth in the slums, her fantastic success, and her fight against racial prejudice.

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Why read it?

1 author picked Josephine as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Christian Robinson is one of my favorite illustrators. His images are very free and childlike while also being incredibly poignant and strongly designed. His artwork pairs beautifully with Hruby Powell’s exuberant text.

The book recounts Josephine Baker’s extraordinary life, from growing up poor in Missouri to becoming a beloved dancer and star in Paris. Both text and images denounce with wit and force the cruel segregation that Black people, including Josephine, experienced in the United States for a large part of the twentieth century. 

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