Swing Sisters: The Story of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm

by Karen Deans, Joe Cepeda (Illustrator)

Overview

Back in 1909, not far from Jackson, Mississippi, Dr. Laurence Clifton Jones opened a special place for orphans named Piney Woods Country Life School. Dr. Jones loved music and wanted the children to love it too. In 1939 he started a school band that was just for girls, and he called it the Sweethearts. The music the girls played was called swing. It had rhythms and melodies that got people up on their feet to dance. And like all good music, it told stories about how it feels to be alive. After the girls left Piney Woods, the band stayed together and performed around the world. With their enormous talent and joyful music, the Sweethearts chipped away at racist and sexist barriers wherever they went.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823450886
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	08/10/2021
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,065,450
Product dimensions:	10.77(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.14(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Karen Deans is the author of Playing to Win: The Story of Althea Gibson, illustrated by Elbrite Brown. She is also an artist whose favorite medium is oil paint on panel. Ms. Deans lives with her husband and three children in the Washington DC area.

Joe Cepeda is an award-winning illustrator of more than twenty books for children. He lives in Southern California with his wife and their son.

Editorial Reviews

"The infectious joy of swing music comes across nicely . . . Cepeda's colorful and richly textured full-bleed acrylic-and-oil paintings match the mostly upbeat mood . . . An appealing and informative composition"—Kirkus Reviews
 
"Deans's text shines a light on the racial, social, and gender boundaries the band crossed, while emphasizing the bond of sisterhood that these girls created because of their talent, mutual struggle, and love of swing. . . . Cepeda's oil and acrylic paint illustrations . . . appear as if they might reverberate off the page at any moment."—School Library Journal
 
"A heartening tribute to a group of pioneering, dedicated musicians."—Publishers Weekly
 
"More than just a history of the band, this takes on a larger picture, including Jim Crow laws and how the Sweethearts helped break down both gender and racial barriers. . . . An appealing piece of American history."—Booklist
 
California Reading Association Eureka! Gold Award Winner
A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year

From the Publisher

02/16/2015
When Dr. Laurence Clifton Jones started a school band for orphaned African-American girls in 1939 Mississippi, he couldn’t have known it would lead to the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, one of the few all-female (not to mention multiracial) bands of the 1940s. Deans candidly describes the barriers the Sweethearts faced as a result of Jim Crow laws (“The white girls had to pretend to be black or they could be arrested”), while Cepeda’s chalky, jewel-toned paintings create an atmosphere of warmth and intimacy. A heartening tribute to a group of pioneering, dedicated musicians. Ages 4–8. Illustrator’s agent: Jennifer Rofé, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2015
Gr 2–5—The groundbreaking interracial, all-female jazz band gets a nice call out in this vibrant informational picture book. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm got their start in 1939 at the Piney Woods Country Life School in Jackson, MS, as a school band created by Dr. Laurence Clifton Jones, who founded the institution for orphans in 1909. The African American students embraced and excelled at swing music, performing in churches, halls, and schools until they branched out on their own, touring on their bus "Big Bertha" and with a chaperone Rae Lee Jones. When the group integrated, taking on musicians of many races and nationalities, it faced discrimination, especially in the Jim Crow South. The young women garnered international acclaim, even traveling to Europe in the 1940s to play for the American soldiers fighting overseas. Deans's text shines a light on the racial, social, and gender boundaries the band crossed, while emphasizing the bond of sisterhood that these girls created because of their talent, mutual struggle, and love of swing. The often wordy narrative comes off a little dry at times, reading a little too much like a textbook. However, Cepeda's oil and acrylic paint illustrations offset the tepid text, and the textured images appear as if they might reverberate off the page at any moment. Each sister is infused with her own personality and style. An inspirational tale to be lauded during curriculum units on women's, African American, and jazz history, this work should be shared with readers not yet ready for Sweethearts of Rhythm by Marilyn Nelson (Dial, 2009).—Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

2014-11-11
Women! Jazz! Integration!In 1909, Dr. Laurence Clifton Jones founded a school and orphanage for black children in Mississippi, and in 1939, he started an all-girl swing band: the Sweethearts of Rhythm. Swing "was filled with energy!" The girls performed locally and throughout the country. In 1945, they played to enthusiastic soldiers as part of a USO tour brought about by a letter-writing campaign from African-American GIs. Writing in a folksy style, Deans describes the lives of the girls in the orphanage and on the road in Jim Crow territory; this, ironically, was made even more difficult after the band integrated. The infectious joy of swing music comes across nicely with details about instrumentation and performances. A scary encounter with the police is also described. Cepeda's colorful and richly textured full-bleed acrylic-and-oil paintings match the mostly upbeat mood with illustrations of the women happily playing various instruments, joyfully askew compositions evoking the big-band beat. The group did not stay together, but the final illustration opens the way for more music as a now-elderly Sweetheart hands over her trumpet to a smiling girl. Readers will certainly want to grab recordings and dance and swing to the sounds. An appealing and informative composition aimed at a younger audience than Marilyn Nelson and Jerry Pinkney's Sweethearts of Rhythm (2009). (author's note, selected bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews