The Green Piano
How Little Me Found Music
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
This autobiographical picture book by the multiple Grammy Award-winning singer Roberta Flack recounts her childhood in a home surrounded by music and love: it all started with a beat-up piano that her father found in a junkyard, repaired, and painted green.
Growing up in a Blue Ridge mountain town, little Roberta didn't have fancy clothes or expensive toys...but she did have music. And she dreamed of having her own piano.
When her daddy spies an old, beat-up upright piano in a junkyard, he knows he can make his daughter's dream come true. He brings it home, cleans and tunes it, and paints it a grassy green. And soon the little girl has an instrument to practice on, and a new dream to reach for--one that will make her become a legend in the music industry.
Here is a lyrical picture book--perfect for aspiring piano players and singers--that shares an intimate look at Roberta Flack's family and her special connection to music.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Music proves "My treasure./My gold" in this autobiographical picture book centering singer Roberta Flack (b. 1937). Raised without "fancy-fine clothes,/ high-priced toys,/ or other richy-rich/ things," Flack grew up in a musical household in Asheville, N.C., "tap-tap-tapp out tunes/ on tabletops,/ windowsills," and dreaming of owning a piano. After the family moves to Green Valley, Va., Flack's father spots an "old, ratty, beat-up, weather-worn, faded" piano in a junkyard, and as he fixes it up and paints it a "grassy green," Flack's dreams swell from piano lessons to a whole life "wrapped up in/ the majesty,/ the magic/ of music." Focusing on childhood dreams realized through persistence and effort, Flack and Bolden employ spare, matter-of-fact verse to share the story of this initial piano and the hope it represented. Goodman's digitally finished gouache portraits highlight young Flack and her piano with pops of green and gold, while swirling tendrils of color represent musical sound. An author's note and "career highlights" timeline conclude. Ages 4–8.
