Stephen Alcorn

It's hard to find a point of interest for children these days in the story of a folk music icon. Despite this difficulty, I have confidence that this book can arouse some interest in the life and music of Odetta. Some of my reading students know Odetta from the role she played as Big Laura in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" (TV movie--1974). When I showed this movie to some students about a year ago, I had to explain who Odetta was, and why her role in that movie would have been appreciated by an audience in the mid-70's. A colorful and lyrical picture-book like this one would have further stoked their interest in her music. This book is unusual among picture books, since the illustrator is given more credit for having conceived the book than the author of the poem that appears on the pages. Stephen Alcorn is known for being more of an artist and muralist than a lyricist, so the visual impact on the reader predominates over the biographical text. The beautiful illustrations are also accompanied by a poem written by the African-American poet Samantha Thornhill in honor of Odetta. The reader who is familiar with Odetta's life gets the feeling that this book was written to honor her passing in 2008.

Having been a fan of Odetta's music since my early teens, I was naturally attracted to this book. Odetta's message of love and racial harmony spans generations. She spent most of her life looking back at the days of slavery and reconstruction and looking forwards towards the days of freedom of the human spirit. Thornhill's jazzy poem brings this atmosphere to life, for readers with a prior knowledge of the musical context. While I really shouldn't expect a poet to stop the outpouring of lyricism to annotate each line, I still foresee some trouble that my reading students (and students in general) would have interpreting some of the references in the poem. For example, Thornhill uses the phrase "from can't see to can't see", instead of the more idiomatic "from sun to sun", or "from dawn to dusk". She also uses "pepper spray" as a metaphor when trying to evoke the flavor of the protest music of the Civil Rights movement. Like any great poet, she uses metaphors and allusions to evoke recognition from an audience that has an historical knowledge of such happenings. While I found some of these allusions to require no explanation, there were others that were completely new to me (i.e. the reference to Marian Anderson as an early influence on Odetta was new). Having to explain such things as "Marian Anderson, Jim Crow, and pepper spray" are the difficulties I expect when teaching or reading this book aloud to a group of middle-school students. These are topics I wouldn't mind discussing with a class or assigning as independent research topics. Among the many great access features provided by this book is an "Afterword" by Stephen Alcorn on Odetta's life. Alcorn seems to have the credentials to write this book, since it appears that he maintained a long-lasting friendship with Odetta.

Odetta, like any great folk musician, was a great interpreter of older folk traditions. It was disappointing that more of her lyrical interpretations were not included in the text or in the mural illustrations for this book. Another disappointment was that Alcorn limited her musical influence to a range of musical idioms, excluding the "Country/bluegrass" genre. Jimmy Driftwood was also a big influence on her music. Driftwood left his stamp on a number of influences, like rural Appalachian bluegrass, that subtly influenced Odetta's music.… (més)

Odetta was born in Alabama, and she practiced piano at her auntie’s house. Eventually Odetta grew as a singer, but she could not stay in Alabama because Jim Crow laws were strict. Odetta’s mother wanted to move to California, but when they got on the train, they could not stay. Her family had to leave the train because the train was only carrying white people. After some time Odetta’s family was able to travel to California. Segregation laws could not suppress Odetta’s voice, Odetta practiced the piano, and her mother paid for piano lessons. Odetta sang and no one could tell her to stop, and whites and blacks enjoyed her sinning. Odetta sang for the civil right movement, and her songs were heard everywhere. The book represents the segregration era in the south of the United States, and the strong voice of Odetta.… (més)