Weatherford, C. (2008). Becoming billie holiday. (p. 117). Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Wordsong.
Becoming Billie Holiday received the Coretta Scott King Award. This is a book of poetry and the titles are Billie Holiday songs. It is a fictional memoir but shows the singer's life and her many struggles and successes. The book starts with a poem about her birth and goes through different aspects of her life including rape and a troubled childhood. There are illustrations throughout the book that go along with some of the poems.
This book would be great in a poetry unit. This book recognizes the accomplishments of a black icon. The author's notes recognizes her accomplishments, one being that she was the first African American vocalist to tour with an all-white band. This book could show students that a book of poetry can be a way of writing someone's life. It would also be a neat idea to play some of Billie Holiday's songs so that students can really get a sense of her work. When schools celebrate black history month this would be a great book to read.
I like that you incorporated poetry in this bibliography. I hadn't considered using any poetry but some of the best multicultural material is poetry. I really like the idea of playing some of the songs. That would put a great spin on the unit. Hopefully the students would be as interested in hearing the songs as I would! You could also add in some Louis Armstrong - that could make a good blend of poetry and significance if you used this in a unit or Black history month or something.
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