Who is Florence Price?

Florence Price was the first African American woman to have her symphony performed by a major U.S. orchestra. Written and illustrated by middle school students at the Special Music School at the Kaufman Music Center in New York, the book opens with a real-life mystery. In 2009, when a couple purchased a house near Chicago and found boxes of sheet music composed by Price in their attic, they posed the book's titular question. The narrative then turns to Price's life story. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1887, she was the daughter of a dentist and a piano teacher. Precocious, she made her performance debut at age 4, published her first musical composition at age 11, and graduated from high school at the top of her class. After completing her studies at the New England Conservatory, Price struggled to find an orchestra that would perform a Black woman's symphony. The story goes on to recount her persistence, eventual success, and enduring legacy. The illustrations are rendered in mixed media with cut-paper elements. While the flat shapes are simple, the compositions are creative, maintaining interest with vivid background colors and changing perspectives. The text is informative, at times humorous, and the story flows well. The endpapers reproduce facsimiles--a page of Price's sheet music and an old, faded concert program. The thoughtful backmatter includes a biography, photographs, discussion questions, selected works, and an afterword about the Special Music School. A sensitive, intelligent addition to the music history canon. (Picture-book biography. 5-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.