Review by Booklist Review
I was just born to swing, Lil Hardin says, as she tells her own story in this jazzy picture book. Born in Memphis, Lil Hardin heard the Father of Blues, W. C. Handy, as a child and was immediately attracted. Lil's mother took pride in her daughter's piano playing but only when the music was Beethoven and Bach. After her family moved to Chicago, Lil got a job playing jazz at a music store. There she was able to meet the jazz greats, and that led to her playing with the bands of the day. She married Louis Armstrong, and they collaborated on songs. In later life, as musical tastes changed, she tried other lines of work, but jazz kept a hold on her, and in the book's final page, she describes her own death, pounding away on the piano. Both the chatty text and acrylic illustrations, which have an outsider-art feel, are enthusiastic and engaging. Children who may have little experience with jazz will still get a sense of its innovation and the excitement it brought to performers and audiences alike.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Lil Hardin Armstrong played jazz piano at a time when female musicians were expected to be "canaries" (singers) and not to "play hard" the way she did. Though Armstrong was Louis Armstrong's second wife, her own career was established before she met Satchmo. Rockliff (Mesmerized) brings immediacy to her story by writing in first-person: Armstrong describes how she learned to play jazz as a child, then moved to Chicago and played piano at a music store, which led her to perform with a jazz band and meet Armstrong. The two married and collaborated, but the end of the Roaring Twenties led to "hard times for America-and me. Louis was moving on." Wood's thickly painted acrylics bring rolling momentum to the pages; wearing bright yellow throughout, Armstrong is the focus of nearly every spread. A joyful portrait of a musician who made her mark on the jazz world. Ages 9-12. Author's agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. Illustrator's agent: Caryn Wiseman, Andrea Brown Literary. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-Chronicling the life of Lil Hardin Armstrong, the illustrations and first-person text showcase an exuberance evident in the life of "Miss Lil," who pioneered not only female musicianship in jazz, but jazz itself. In the author's note, Rockliff mentions Hardin was working on an autobiography at the time of her death (at the piano, no less), which has since disappeared. Readers will learn of Hardin's childhood spent in Memphis where she was attracted to swing even as she trained as a classical pianist and played for services at her church. The "Jazz Wonder Child" dances through every page, a lively yellow-clad figure swirling and swinging through her move to Chicago, rise to jazz fame, and meetings with such famous folks as Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong (who would later become her husband). Wood relies on yellow to draw the eye to important features on each page and to drench the book in the fervor and delight Lil Hardin clearly felt for music. A "Listen to Lil" section provides a suggested song list for readers curious to hear more. VERDICT Suitable for read-alouds at storytimes or school projects for the upper grades.-Chelsea Woods, New Brunswick Free Public Library, NJ © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Rockliff writes in an upbeat, toe-tapping first-person voice to tell the story of lesser-known black jazz pianist Lil Hardin, who was accomplished before she met and married jazz great Louis Armstrong. Wood's bold, naive acrylic paintings nicely match the era and subject. Photos, additional biographical information, and a list of songs complete the volume. Timeline. Bib. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A biography of Lil Hardin Armstrong, who "was just born to swing," one of the first female musicians to make it in the world of jazz.Lil Hardin was born in Memphis, near Beale Street, "where the music never stopped." Though her mother said blues was "Devil's music," Lil Hardin was allowed to play the family organ and at church, where she jazzed up the old church hymns. The Great Migration swept Lil Hardin and her mother up in its tide to Chicago, where a job playing piano in a music store led to gigs, even though a woman playing the piano in a jazz band was unheard of. As a fixture in Chicago's jazz scene, she met Louis Armstrong, and the pair eventually married. Lil Hardinwhose reputation was cementedused her fame to help boost Louis', and after the couple parted ways, she enjoyed a successful career as a songwriter, musician, and bandleader. Rockliff relates the jazz pioneer's story in Lil Hardin's imagined and enthusiastic first person, her conversational address developing an appropriately big personality. Wood's bright, nave acrylics complement the narrative style, but they do not evoke the smooth, accomplished sounds that were Lil Hardin's musical signature. Curiously, despite a closing photograph that evinces many different skin tones in Lil Hardin's combo, characters are almost all portrayed as the same medium brown color.Unfortunately, this ode to an undeservedly overlooked legend does not hit all the right notes. (biographical note, discography, timeline, bibliography, author's note) (Picture book/biography. 5-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
