In the radiant Make a Pretty Sound, author Traci N. Todd (Nina) and illustrator Eleanor Davis (Flop to the Top) reverently capture the legacy of singer/songwriter Ella Jenkins, who revolutionized children's music. Todd frames the story by beginning with Ella's childhood in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood and closes with an elderly Ella, who traveled "farther than she has ever been" to perform onstage for children in Indonesia.
Todd and Davis explore the influences that shaped young Ella into the renowned children's musician she became: playground chants, her favorite record shop, the blues music her Uncle Flood introduced her to, and the Bronzeville music halls where she once saw Cab Calloway engage in his call-and-response songs. As young Ella walks the city streets of Chicago and "whistles with the birds," Todd brings the story to life with a distinctive rhythm and vivid sensory details: "Ella is a South Side girl, a Bronzeville bird, skipping in streets that smell of sweets and black-eyed peas."
After moving to San Francisco, Ella becomes a teacher, encouraging children to play with "anything to make a pretty sound" (oatmeal boxes, tins cans, and the like). Todd highlights Jenkins's performance at Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1964 Soldier Field rally, but emphasizes that Ella's songs were "for the children, for the hope she feels when she hears their voices." Many of Davis's illustrations feature kids, including young Ella herself, with mouths wide open, eyes closed: they sing and shout with full abandon, their voices ringing out freely and joyfully. Davis also portrays Ella as larger than life, a kind of pied piper to children, who are excited to make music and amplify their voices. Her art, which is reminiscent of Rafael López's illustrations in Drum Dream Girl, features a palette bursting with grainy crimsons, greens, and coppers. One such spread, depicting Armando Peraza--"the great conguero who tumbles from rumble! to smack!, from pop! to paaaah!"--exemplifies Davis's elegant compositions, accomplished linework, and dynamic body language. Although Peraza becomes a mentor to Ella, her greatest excitement lies in sharing what she learns: "And she can hardly wait to show the children," eager for them to experience the joy of making music for themselves. "The children," in turn, "can hardly wait to see her." Todd and Davis's stellar collaboration is an exceptional, enthusiastic dedication to the work of Jenkins, the "First Lady of Children's Music," a woman who spent her life bringing joy and music to children through timeless songs. --Julie Danielson
Shelf Talker: The joyful Make a Pretty Sound pays tribute to Ella Jenkins, the singer-songwriter who revolutionized children's music.