Becoming Billie Holiday

Authors: Weatherford, Carole Boston
Lexile: 970,
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
BISAC/Subject: JNF007040, JNF042000, JNF007050
ISBN: 9781629791739, Related ISBNs: 159078507X, 1629791733, 9781590785072, 9781629791739
Classification: Non-Fiction
Number of pages: 120,
Audience: Children/juvenile
Synopsis: The stunning voice and hard life of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday is revealed through evocative, accessible poetry.
 
In 1915, Sadie Fagan gave birth to a daughter she named Eleanora. The world, however, would know her as Billie Holiday, possibly the greatest jazz singer of all time. Eleanora's journey to become a legend took her through pain, poverty, and run-ins with the law. By the time she was fifteen, she knew she possessed something that could possibly change her life--a voice. Eleanora could sing. Her remarkable voice led her to a place in the spotlight with some of the era's hottest big bands. Through a sequence of raw and poignant poems, New York Times best-selling and award-winning poet Carole Boston Weatherford chronicles the singer's young life, her fight for survival, and the dream she pursued with passion.
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