Golio crafts an honest biography of African-American jazz singer Billie Holiday, whose light skin, penchant for improvisation, and commitment to social justice often made her the center of heated controversy. It's a potent reminder of the power of art to combat intolerance and hate.'-starred, Publishers Weekly, 'Lynching: a strange and difficult but important topic for a songand for this picture book. Riley-Webb (Seed Magic) uses sweeping, flame-like brushes of color to heighten the story's emotional intensity the lyrics of the song appear in the closing pages, along with in-depth details about Holiday's career and the cultural context of 'Strange Fruit,' including the history of lynching in the United States. The second key moment is Holiday's first performance of 'Strange Fruit,' which initially elicits discomfort from the audience ('A few people nearly got up from their seats and left'), followed by thunderous applause. The first: quitting Artie Shaw's band after enduring the latest in a long line of discriminatory incidents. Millbrook: 2017.'Golio's powerful narrative turns on two moments plucked from Billie Holiday's career. Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song, by Gary Golio, illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb. It’s definitely one that will join our family’s library. Pretty obviously this is a book for older readers, but it speaks directly and passionately to them. The acrylic paint and tissue paper collages blur representational images with bold abstraction. I was especially moved by the risks she took in her debut of the song and the description of how audiences received the song. In clear, unadorned prose, he tells the story of how Billie Holiday became a singer and how she decided to start singing an anti-lynching song composed by a Jewish poet. He included this video of Billie Holiday singing.Īnd then I found this wonderful book by Gary Golio, Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song. I first heard “Strange Fruit” when my husband, a law professor, was preparing a lecture on the way popular culture exerts pressure on the rule of law. It’s the powerful account of a song, “Strange Fruit,” how it came to be written, how it came to be sung, and the power it exerted on its audience. This is one of those books I wish I’d written.

Strange Fruit by Charlotte Riley-Webb