Mama Mable's All-Gal Big Band Jazz Extravaganza!
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Debut author-illustrator Annie Sieg takes young readers on an inspiring trip to the music halls of the 1940s, when groups of young female musicians broke racial and gender barriers--and forever changed the face of jazz.
Everyone knows about Rosie the Riveter, the icon for working women during World War II. Now prepare to meet a group of young women who did the same for music! From saxophonists and drummers to trumpeters, pianists, trombonists, and singers, talented young women across the country picked up their instruments--and picked up the spirits of an entire nation--during the dark days of World War II. Together they formed racially integrated female bands and transformed the look and sound of jazz, taking important strides for all women in the world of music. Debut author-illustrator Annie Sieg shines a spotlight on the young women who epitomized the sound and spirit of jazz of the era, while opening young readers' eyes and ears to the role of women then and now in music.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This tribute to the all-female swing bands of the WWII era traces their genesis to the absence of male musicians ("All the men had gone to war") and the need for the restorative power of music ("So Mama Mable formed her band/ to cheer up this good nation"). While Sieg, making her picture book debut, models the performers on contemporary swing bands such as the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, she doesn't aim at biography. Instead, the book underscores the excitement of swing music played by diverse female ensembles. The musicians include a black trumpeter in a hot pink playsuit endpaper silhouettes suggest she's based on Valaida Snow and a saxophonist with long black hair likely inspired by Willie Mae Wong. In vibrant mixed-media art, the narrative follows a child in a red dress through inclusive spreads of women working and attending the band's concert. When the girl is reticent to bid the musicians farewell, a supportive word from Mama Mable underlines their inherent sisterhood. A toe-tapping readaloud, a joyful vision of women in community, and a stepping stone to a discussion of music as a social enterprise. Ages 4 8.
