Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Powell's rhythmic yet unmetered prose was a perfect match to Josephine Baker's improvisational style. Robinson's folk-art style allowed him to emphasize movement with flowing lines and evocative shapes. This was a great match of author and illustrator. The consistency of the pictures with the subject reminded me of [b:A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams|3238642|A River of Words The Story of William Carlos Williams|Jennifer Fisher Bryant|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347836624s/3238642.jpg|3273289]
From my review of Robinson's work with Renee Watson on [b:Harlem's Little Blackbird|13531513|Harlem's Little Blackbird|Renée Watson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333578009s/13531513.jpg|19093186]: "Like other well-known biographies of American figures, this one focuses on a 'from humble beginnings all the way to the world stage' narrative." This thematic similarity made me wonder how the project came about. Did Robinson pitch it and get matched up to Powell, or did Powell pitch the book and then Chronicle editors asked Robinson because of his known work?
It is the sort of 'pull up your own bootstraps' story that we love in America. But the story is laced with sad moments skipped over quickly in the writing. Clearly, to fulfill her potential as an artist, Baker left a lot of people behind. These were not excluded from the story, but Powell makes it seem like none of these cruelties mattered, when they might have been a deep source of humanity in the writing. I see many writers today, even on TV now, who are good at presenting darker moments of cruelty without painting over them or justifying them. If this had been different I would have reached for that fourth star.
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