"Once, there was a poor black boy who grew up in New Orleans in the early years of the twentieth century…"
So begins Yona Zeldis McDonough's bio for children of the greatest musician of all time, Louis Armstrong. A wonderfully understated once upon a timer that embraces the unlikeliness of the great Satchmo's rise to the heights of the entertainment world.
It briskly ignores his slave Grandmother and prostitute mother and grounds him in juvenile before he is 12 years and learning the cornet (I know, but they couldn't naecheck everybody) within the first 4 pages.
Illustrated and very, very well by John O'Brien (the illustration above is by Nancy Harrison) , he helps Yona clarify Armstrongs life without simplifying it. Indeed, even an Armstrong fanatic such as myself found its Timeline extremely useful.
Published by Grosset and Dunlop, I was given it by helen bach for my birthday which suggest in no uncertain terms
a) How much she likes me
and
b) Exactly what mental age group she believes I belong in!
Be that as it may, if you are a fan and you want some straight up info without tackling one of the bios, you should try it. It is available on Amazon.com