Ruby Sings the Blues

Ruby Sings the Blues

Author:

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2007-04-03

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13: 1599900297

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Ruby's loud voice annoys everyone around her, until she learns to control her volume with the help of her new jazz musician friends.


Ruby Sings the Blues

Ruby Sings the Blues

Author: Niki Daly

Publisher: Frances Lincoln

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 24

ISBN-13: 9781845070991

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Published in the U.K.: London: Frances Lincoln, 2005.


Black Diva of the Thirties

Black Diva of the Thirties

Author: David E. Weaver

Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published: 2009-11-12

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1628467533

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While undergoing routine surgery to remove a benign tumor, Ruby Elzy died. She was only thirty-five. Had she lived, she would have been one of the first Black artists to appear in grand opera. Although now in the shadows, she was a shining star in her day. She entertained Eleanor Roosevelt in the White House. She was Paul Robeson's leading lady in the movie version of The Emperor Jones. She starred in Birth of the Blues opposite Bing Crosby and Mary Martin. She sang at Harlem's Apollo Theater and in the Hollywood Bowl. Her remarkable soprano voice was known to millions over the radio. She was personally chosen by George Gershwin to create one of the leading roles in his masterpiece, that of Serena in the original production of Porgy and Bess. Her signature song was the vocally demanding “My Man's Gone Now.” From obscurity she had risen to great heights. Ruby Pearl Elzy (1908-1943) was born in abject poverty in Pontotoc, Mississippi. Her father abandoned the family when she was five, leaving her mother, a strong, devout woman, to raise four small children. Ruby first sang publicly at the age of four and even in childhood dreamed of a career on the stage. Good fortune struck when a visiting professor, overwhelmed upon hearing her beautiful voice at Rust College in Mississippi, arranged for her to study music at Ohio State University. Later, on a Rosenwald Fellowship, she enrolled at the Juilliard School in New York City. After more than eight hundred performances in Porgy and Bess, she set her sights on a huge goal, to sing in grand opera. She was at the peak of her form. While she was preparing for her debut in the title role of Verdi's Aida, tragedy struck. During her brief career, Ruby Elzy was in the top tier of American sopranos and a precursor who paved a way for Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, and other black divas of the operatic stage. This biography acknowledges her exceptional talent, recognizes her contribution to American music, and tells her tragic yet inspiring story.


I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Author: Maya Angelou

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2010-07-21

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 030747772X

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Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin From the Paperback edition.


With Billie

With Billie

Author: Julia Blackburn

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2012-10-10

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 0307829219

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From Julia Blackburn, an author whose ability to conjure lives from other times and places is so vivid that one suspects she sees ghosts, here is a portrait of a woman whose voice continues to haunt anyone who hears it. Billie Holiday’s life is inseparable from an account of her troubles, her addictions, her arrests, and the scandals that would repeatedly put her name in the tabloid headlines of the 1940s and 1950s. Those who knew her learned never to be surprised by what she might do. Her moods and faces were so various that she could seem to be a different woman from one moment to the next. Volatile, unpredictable, Billie Holiday remained, even to her friends, an elusive and perplexing figure. In With Billie, we hear the voices of those people–piano players and dancers, pimps and junkies, lovers and narcs, producers and critics, each recalling intimate stories of the Billie they knew. What emerges is a portrait of a complex, contradictory, enthralling woman, a woman who knew what really mattered to her. Reading With Billie, one is convinced that she has only just left the room but will return shortly.


Bridges to Understanding

Bridges to Understanding

Author: Linda Pavonetti

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2011-10-16

Total Pages: 535

ISBN-13: 0810881063

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This is the fourth volume sponsored by the United States Board on Books for Young People, following Children's Books from Other Countries (1998), The World Through Children's Books (2002), and Crossing Boundaries (2006). This latest volume, edited by Linda M. Pavonetti, includes books published between 2005 and 2009. This annotated bibliography, organized geographically by world region and country, with descriptions of nearly 700 books representing more than 70 countries, is a valuableresource for librarians, teachers, and anyone else seeking to promote international understanding through children's literature. Like its predecessors, it will be an important tool for providing stories that will help children understand our differences while simultaneously demonstrating our common humanity.


Today I Will

Today I Will

Author: Jerry Spinelli

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Published: 2014-10-29

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0375893520

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Reassuring advice for every day of the year From an esteemed husband-and-wife team comes a book of daily advice and insight. In dated entries meant to be read one per day, the Spinellis open with a brief quote from children’s literature, write a paragraph of lively advice inspired by that quote, and end with a “Today I will . . .” promise. The entries range from the broad (self-esteem, the environment, gratitude, and openmindedness) to the simple and specific (Today I will call a grandparent . . . smile at a new kid . . . take a walk . . . and send a snail-mail letter.). With wide appeal to fans of both children’s literature and advice books, this cozy page-a-day volume (with black-and-white spot art) offers inspiring quotes, gentle guidance, and 366 “Today I will . . .” promises to thoughtful readers everywhere.


Windows on the World

Windows on the World

Author: Rosanne Blass

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2009-12-14

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1591588316

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This resource book for librarians and teachers of elementary and middle grade readers introduces over 400 titles of books (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) written and illustrated by international authors and illustrators. Windows on the World: International Books for Elementary and Middle Grade Readers helps librarians and teachers open the eyes of elementary and middle grade readers to what life is like for children like themselves around the globe. In this extraordinary resource, you will find introductions to over 400 fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles for age levels 4-8 and 8-12, written and illustrated by international authors and illustrators, and matched with related curriculum activities correlated with national curriculum standards. Windows on the World consists of over 100 lead books and over 350 related books published in the last ten years, organized by countries and cultures. It includes work from non-American authors working in the United States and abroad, as well as reissues of classics, and a few American titles noted for their authentic representations of other cultures. Each entry includes bibliographic data, information about the author and illustrator, identification of genre, recommended age level, a synopsis, suggested curriculum responses correlated with national curriculum standards, and related books.


Creative Writing Guidebook

Creative Writing Guidebook

Author: Graeme Harper

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2008-10-08

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 1623566436

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"Graeme Harper is quite possibly the best person in the country to edit this book" -Richard Kerridge, Bath Spa University College, UK The Creative Writing Guidebook is the key text for learning creative writing. Packed full of useful advice, exercises and readings, it sets out an informative and inspiring introduction to writing creatively. Taking a practical, workshop approach to creative writing, this comprehensive guidebook includes: introductions to genres of writing, including the novel, poetry, screenwriting, new media and non-fiction; workshop exercises suitable for each genre; a wide-range of examples and suggestions for further reading and discussions of cross-genre issues such as point of view, character, setting and voice. Written by internationally renowned experts, this is the definitive textbook on creative writing for students. Contributors include: Catherine Dent, Ken Dancyge, Adrianne Finlay, Graeme Harper, Gill James, Jeri Kroll, Oliver Mayer, Graham Mort, William S. Penn, Hazel Smith, and Silas Zobal


Seattle Blues

Seattle Blues

Author: Michael Wenberg

Publisher:

Published: 2011-04-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781934813201

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The summer of 1970 starts off badly for 13-year-old Maya. Her mother has sent her to Seattle to stay with the grandmother she's never met; her father is reported MIA in the jungles of Vietnam; and angry Maya's determined to get back home, even if it means running away. But slowly Maya begins to adjust, and when she finds a trombone in the attic, she's mesmerized. She learns to play as her grandmother gradually unravels the details of her past: Maya's grandfather was a famous jazz trombonist who died in a car crash, and her grandmother was once a top jazz singer. After Maya saves an elderly man from a riot, she comes to terms with the prospect of life without her father, and helps to mend her mom's relationship with her grandmother as she takes the first steps to becoming an accomplished musician herself.