Jazz Age Josephine (review)

In this picture-book biography, Winter traces the meteoric rise of dancer/singer Josephine Baker from her impoverished childhood in St. Louis, to her breakthrough in a New York chorus line, through her headliner career in Paris. Winter picks his way cautiously through the details of her life, doubtless in the dual interests of brevity and child propriety, limiting his focus to her rags-to-riches ascent, comedic talents, lithe and athletic dancing, and the sad irony of her shunning by American audiences, who couldn't get past racial prejudice to embrace the talent the French so readily acclaimed. Missing, however, is any hint of her complex romantic life, the sensuality of her performances, or even her intriguing stint spying for the French in World War II, an episode that would surely captivate child listeners; without those, it's mostly a spirited but generic portrait of a dancer. Winter rolls out his text in a blues cadence whose scansion bobs and weaves but which fairly begs for a steel guitar accompaniment: "Well she was born up in St. Louis,/ and she grew up with those St. Louis blues./ Yes, she was born in old St. Louis,/ and she grew up singin' nothin' but the blues./ She just had one old ragged dress/ and a pair of worn-out old shoes." Priceman puts the spring in Baker's step with her confetti-colored, perspective-defying paintings that emphasize the limber limbs and svelte sophistication of the chanteuse as she takes Paris by storm. No notes or sources are included, but kids with unfiltered and unsupervised internet access will readily find their way to YouTube for an earful and eyeful of the stunning Ms. Baker.