Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award
The stunning voice and hard life of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday
is revealed through evocative, accessible poetry.
In 1915, Sadie Fagan gave birth to a daughter she named Eleanora. The
world, however, would know her as Billie Holiday, possibly the greatest
jazz singer of all time. Eleanora's journey to become a legend took her
through pain, poverty, and run-ins with the law. By the time she was
fifteen, she knew she possessed something that could possibly change her
life--a voice. Eleanora could sing. Her remarkable voice led her to a
place in the spotlight with some of the era's hottest big bands. Through
a sequence of raw and poignant poems, New York Times best-selling and
award-winning poet Carole Boston Weatherford chronicles the singer's
young life, her fight for survival, and the dream she pursued with
passion.