Reading to and with The Girl at bedtime is a constant joy: a time for discovery and sharing and, increasingly, an opportunity to gauge how her ability to read on her own is growing by leaps and bounds. One thing we especially enjoy is books about real-life women who made a substantial impact in science or the arts. We've got both of the Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls volumes, naturally—and we're even friendly with one of the women profiled therein, a firefighter who lives in our building in Queens. We've got special favorite books about Eugenie Clark, a bold ichthyologist who dared to love sharks, and Joan Procter, a pioneering herpetologist who revolutionized how reptiles are housed in zoos. We've read engaging age-appropriate biographies of Helen Frankenthaler, and Zaha Hadid, and Yayoi Kusama, and more.
Tonight we added a new volume to our library, and it's got a very special twist: Unlike all the other books I just mentioned, Who Is Florence Price? was created for young people by young people. Newly published by the Kaufman Music Center, the slender paperback was written and illustrated by sixth, seventh, and eighth graders enrolled in the center's Special Music School, guided by teacher Shannon Potts.
Near as I can tell, Who Is Florence Price? is not available commercially—but, having read it this evening, I'll voice a sincere wish that everyone could get their hands on it. In lively and affirmative prose, the book recounts a succinct version of Price's life that hews to facts presented in widely read 2018 articles by Micaela Baranello in The New York Times (here) and Alex Ross in The New Yorker (here). Both of those articles relate a story about a trove of yellowing manuscripts found in a dilapidated house outside of Chicago in 2009, restoring to circulation works by Price believed long lost. (It bears mention that those two stories unwittingly played into a burst of "long-lost composer rediscovered" claims, which scholars like Kori Hill and Doug Shadle, among others, rebutted efficiently; unlike her manuscripts, Price herself never had gone wholly missing.)
The rediscovery of the manuscripts – a genuinely momentous event that absolutely did serve to catapult Price back into the public eye – both starts and finishes the story told by the Special Music School students. The prose is easygoing and stylish, telling a story of aspiration, determination, and substantial achievement. The authors deal with obstacles represented by Price's gender and ethnicity in plainspoken manner. And notably, while the instance of conductor Frederick Stock taking up Price's Symphony No. 1 is rightly treated as a life-changing event, a reader gets the sense that the milestone came as a result of Price's resolve to have her talent noticed and appreciated, rather than an anointment of worth from a white male elite.
As I indicated previously, in recent years I've read a lot of books aimed at relating sophisticated life stories for very young readers; it takes a deft balance of content and tone, and these young writers get the mix just so. The illustrations – an appealing mix of drawing, painting, and collage – are similarly sophisticated and often arresting, as you might have seen in a tweet by the composer Marcos Balter late last week.
Heartwarming moment of the year: Kate Sheeran gave me this beautiful book on Florence Price, written and illustrated by middle schoolers from the @KaufmanMusicNYC Special Music School, and I ugly cried all over it. If you have a kid, get a copy!!! pic.twitter.com/2JZDtTCFPb
— Marcos Balter (@MarcosBalter) February 28, 2020
You likely noticed in the photograph at the top of this post that my copy of Who Is Florence Price? arrived with a handwritten card from one of the authors. I hope he won't mind that I'm sharing his message with you:
Dear Mr. Smith,
In January we researched, wrote, and illustrated this book about Florence Price. This project taught me that even music back then, and even now had/have ways to put some people better than others. Just like how one conductor changed Florence's musical life, it only takes one important person to change someone's life. I hope you enjoy the book.
Sincerely,
Jonah 12
7th grader
Dear Jonah: Thank you! I did enjoy the book a great deal, and so did my six-year-old daughter, who immediately declared my copy of Who Is Florence Price? is now part of her personal library. I'm certain that we'll be reading it many, many more times now, and I hope that many, many more people will have an opportunity to do the same.
Sincerely,
Steve and The Girl
P.S. We'd like to extend our thanks to Kaufman Music Center executive director Kate Sheeran for sending the book and your note along, too.
After we set the book aside for the night, we listened to a bit of the first movement from Price's Symphony No. 1, in the excellent Naxos recording by the Fort Smith Symphony conducted by John Jeter. The Girl was duly impressed, but the rousing strains weren't especially amenable to falling asleep, so we switched over to our traditional lullaby, Bach's "Goldberg" Variations. (No, that's not pompous; it's effective.) But had I thought of it, maybe I could have played the incredibly beautiful Andante Cantabile movement from Price's String Quartet in A minor. Listen for yourself, in this gorgeous recent performance presented by Castle of Our Skins at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
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