Written by: Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara
Illustrated by: Bàrbara Alca
For ages: 4-7 years
Language: English
Topics Covered: POC-Centric Narratives, Historical Figures, Women in Music, Musicians, Trailblazers, Biography, Black Culture & Identity.
Summary: Ella was a young girl fascinated with performing and music. When she was 15, her mother died and radically changed her life. Running away from a reform school, she began performing. Two years later Ella won a contest at a nightclub and was discovered by Chick Webb, a big name in jazz at the time. This jumpstarted her career, turning her into the First Lady of Song, as she is now known!
This is a basic overview of the prolific singer that is Ella Fitzgerald, and a good book for an introduction to the subject. We really love the timeline in the back of the book with the photos of Ella throughout her career. This book, like the other books in the series, is adorable!
This book was sent in consideration of the Best Books of 2019 list by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (an imprint of Quarto), but all opinions are our own!
About the Author & the Illustrator:
Mª Isabel Sanchez Vegara was born in Barcelona, Spain, and she is a writer and creative director perhaps best known as the author of much of the Little People, Big Dreams series. Six years ago, she decided to self-publish a book that had been in her mind for a long time. One day, one thousand copies of arrived at her home – she had no idea what she was going to do with them! She opened a little online shop, placed them to some pretty stores in her neighborhood and, one by one, she sold them all. Soon, publishing houses started to approach her to write books, but she was working on another idea of her own: a series about little people with BIG dreams. Each book tells the childhood story of one of the world’s female icons in an entertaining, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction readers, allowing them to identify with the characters in each story.
Bàrbara Alca is an “extremely beautiful and enthusiastic Graphic Designer, Comic Artist and Illustrator based in Barcelona.
I make my own zines, work as a freelance illustrator for press such as El País, Ajuntament de Palma, El Jueves, Revista Cactus, and for editorial projects with Planeta, Alba Editorial and Sapristi.
Most of my work is mixed media, hand drawn lines with digital colouring.
I have a dark sense of humour, but I also love lace and bows which results in an eclectic style.”