Written by Five-Time Grammy Winner Roberta Flack with Tonya Bolden and illustrated by Hayden Goodman
[From the Dust Jacket]
Little Roberta Flack didn’t have much, but she had what was important: a family rich with love. And she had a dream—to live a life filled with music.
When her daddy finds a beat-up piano in a junkyard, brings it home, and paints it a grassy green, Roberta is overjoyed!
If she practices . . . and practices . . . and practices, will her dream come true?
Ages 4 and up | 40 pages
Hardcover | Anne Schwartz Books (An imprint of Penguin Random House) | 2023 | ISBN 9780593479872
“The Green Piano” Awards
Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature – 2024 Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature (Irma Black Award) – Silver Medalist
“The Green Piano” Made the List …
A 2023 Kirkus Reviews Best Picture-Book Biography
Evanston Public Library’s 101 Great Books for Kids 2023 – Non-Fiction Picture Books
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature (CSMCL) Best Book of 2023
Black Caucus American Library Association Best of the Best List 2023
Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature – The Best Children’s Books of the Year 2024 – Biography
Cooperative Children’s Book Center (University of Wisconsin-Madison) – A CCBC Choice 2024 – The Arts
“The Green Piano” Reviews …
The titular piano, rescued from a junkyard for the 9-year-old prodigy, serves as a memorable central image, but the memoir the renowned singer and co-author Bolden weave around it is really about the joys of growing up in a musical family and turning musical dreams into reality through years of listening, practice, and study. . . . A moving testimonial to the effects of instilling a love of live music in childhood. —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“With Coretta Scott King Author honoree Bolden, Flack describes her formative years in this lovely, affirming picture-book biography” —Booklist
“[I]t’s written and illustrated for young kids, but the testimony is ageless: Music can change lives.—Neil’s Entertainment Picks (January 8th 2023)
“A warm, soulful picture book autobiography about a living legend that will inspire burgeoning artists to pursue their dreams no matter their circumstances.” —School Library Journal, starred review
“Focusing on childhood dreams realized through persistence and effort, Flack and Bolden employ spare, matter-of-fact verse to share the story of this initial piano and the hope it represented.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“The Green Piano” Features …
Publishers Weekly “Singer Roberta Flack Makes Children’s Book Debut” by Matt Broaddus
NPR’s All Things Considered (Broadcast) 1/12/23 “Roberta Flack’s first piano came from a junkyard – five Grammys would follow” by Elizabeth Blair