Nina

November 1, 2017
A biography about the legendary singer told as a lullaby from Simone to her daughter.With black-and-white illustrations that evoke a dreamy, old-time feel, Simone (appropriately portrayed with an Afro) sings her daughter a lullaby interspersed with the story of her life. At 3, Simone starts piano lessons, connecting the appearance of the piano keys to the oppression of black people in the U.S. Music offers Simone an escape ("Music has no color"), though the fact that the "important men in powdered wigs from past centuries" whose music she plays are all white is addressed only in the illustration. (Here young Simone is also depicted with white hair, which will probably require some assistance from caregivers to unpack.) When 12-year-old Simone gives a church performance, she refuses to play until her mother, who had given up her front-row seat for a white attendee, is reseated in the front row, setting a precedent for her activist future. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is cited as an inspiration (though without the honorific), and a spread with protest signs adds humor with Simone happily pointing to her own sign, which reads, "Young, Gifted, and Black," a nod to her future song. Though the softly textured illustrations in this French import are sometimes obscure, they are always beautiful. A good introduction to Simone's life, from her early love of music to her rise to the status of legend. (Picture book. 4-8)

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December 1, 2017

Gr 3-5-Less a biography than a meditation, Briere-Haquet's take on Nina Simone is structured as a bedtime story told by the legendary musician to her daughter. In lyrical prose, the book reflects on Simone's early musical education and racial awareness as they grow hand in hand. From the black-and-white keys of the piano to the divisions that young Simone experienced among white and black people in her community, the book frames Simone's career as a mission to make "the notes...mingle and dance together in the air so these lies would disappear," erroneously asserting that "Music has no color." The telling abruptly shifts from Simone's early life to the influence of Martin Luther King Jr., whose dream is described as "my symphony. Black and white people...together in the big dance of life." Simone cautions that "the dream is fragile" and the book ends where it began, the singer lulling her daughter to sleep. As a firm but oversimplified telling, the text leaves something to be desired. In addition, though the illustrations are gently fantastical, Liance's choice to portray Simone as a light skinned, almost white, figure is deeply problematic. VERDICT An ambitious though unsuccessful work.-Katya Schapiro, Brooklyn Public Library

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2017
Grades 1-3 *Starred Review* Nina Simone probably won't be a familiar name to primary graders, but that doesn't matter much in this captivating book focusing on the young Nina and how early events in her life shaped her adult passions. This begins with Nina singing a lullaby she's written to her daughter. At bedtime, she tells the child stories of her own youth. When she first saw a piano, she noticed the black keys were smaller than the white onesand that could have become a metaphor for the world. Black people were nothing but half notes on a huge ivory keyboard. But no. I did not agree with this. Another incident, after she's become an accomplished musician: at a concert, her mother is seated up-front until white audience members arrive. But Nina won't play if her mother must move, so her mother stays put. Later, Martin Luther King becomes her symphony. But his dream must be nurtured, she murmurs as her daughter sleeps. This French import is strikingly illustrated in black-and-white. A two-page spread in which white people sit, while black people stand behind them, arms raised, conveys a historical drama made even more powerful by the medium. Perhaps because of its French origin, there's no author's note, nothing that further details Simone's career. But this stands on its own.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)