Struttin' with Some Barbecue - a review

Struttin' with Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong becomes the First Lady of Jazz 
by Patricia Hruby Powell
Illustrated by Rachel Himes 
Charlesbridge, 2018

Almost everyone has heard of jazz trumpet player Louis Armstrong, but what of his wife, Lil Hardin? In this illustrated,  novel-in-verse, Patricia Hruby Powell introduces us to the the talented piano player and composer, Lil Hardin. She was Louis Armstrong's wife, his early manager, and the composer of several famous jazz hits of the day, including "Struttin' with Some Barbecue." With or without her famous husband, Lil Hardin was destined to be a star.

Short chapters in chronological order start with Liz's upbringing with her strict mother—a staunch foe of "race music," as jazz was called at the time.  However, Liz's talent, drive, and ability to make money, finally won over her disapproving mother.  Lil began dating the shy Louis Armstrong in 1922. Together they played music, married, and rose to the top,

Lil and Louis
were struttin' high on the hog
right there in Chicago,
up from the South,
makin'
raw and raucous
rompin', rollickin'
music.

Dang, they were musical royalty—
inventing
a new kind of sound—
makin'
jazz.

After reading Struttin' with Some Barbecue, you won't be able to look up a recording of Lil's music fast enough.  I've saved you the trouble.  Listen to "Struttin' with Some Barbecue" below.

In addition to a glossary, bibliography, index, etc., back matter includes additional information on Lil, jazz, and racial conditions of the era.

• Read an excerpt of Struttin' with Some Barbecue
• Look inside Struttin' with Some Barbecue 
• Junior Library Guild selection 

My copy of Struttin' with Some Barbecue was provided by the publisher.

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Audiobook reviews

I recently reviewed two audiobooks with a peculiar connection.  Masterminds is a thriller set in the seemingly perfect town of Serenity, New Mexico.  The Way to Stay in Destiny is a character-driven novel set in the woefully imperfect town of Destiny, Florida.  Neither town is quite what it seems.  Click the links to read the complete reviews.

Masterminds by Gordon Korman.  Read by a cast of five. (2015) 

[http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/98783/]

A contemporary science thriller set in New Mexico - a real page-turner!  This is the first in a planned series.  I'm not sure how he can top this one!

The Way to Stay in Destiny by Augusta Scattergood and read by Michael Crouch. (2015) 

 [http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/99246/]

Historical fiction set in 1970s Florida by the author of Glory Be. Another paean to the power of music.  (Try Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan, too!)

I'm confident that either of these is great in print as well.

Echo: A Novel - a review

If this is how the year is starting out, it's going to be a banner year for middle-grade books.  First, Gordon Korman's Masterminds (more on that fantastic new thriller another day) and now Echo: A Novel.

Ryan, Pam Muñoz. 2015. Echo: A Novel. New York: Scholastic.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of Echo from Scholastic and was intrigued that it was wrapped in musical notation paper and had a smartly-boxed Hohner Blues Band harmonica tied to it.


I was happy to see an apparently music-related book, and was somewhat surprised to find that Echo begins with a fairytale, "The Thirteenth Harmonica of Otto Messenger," a fairytale replete with abandoned princesses, a magical forest, a mean-spirited witch, and a prophecy,

"Your fate is not yet sealed.  Even in the darkest night, a star will shine, a bell will chime, a path will be revealed."

Though brief, I became enthralled with the tale and was surprised and taken aback when I reached Part One and found myself not in the fairytale forest, but in

Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, 1933, home to the world's oldest harmonica manufacturer.  I couldn't wait to find out what became of the abandoned princesses, but soon found myself wrapped up in the story of young Friedrich Schmidt, a German Jew during Hitler's ascendance to power.  This kind-hearted, young boy of a musical family was surely destined to be gathered up in the anti-Semitic wave sweeping through Germany. I became engrossed in Friedrich's story, anxiously hoping that things would work out for him and his family, and was again surprised when I reached Part Two and found myself in

Philadelphia, 1935, home of the then-famous Albert Hoxie and the Philadelphia Harmonica Band, and of the Bishop's Home for Friendless and Destitute Children, where I found myself in the company of piano-playing orphans, Mike and Frankie Flannery.  Their story was no less heart-wrenching than Friedrich's, and I found myself desperately rooting for the young boys when I suddenly arrived

in a migrant worker's community in Southern California, 1942, where young Ivy Maria Lopez was about to play her harmonica on the Colgate Family Hour radio show, but her excitement was short-lived.  I fell in with this hard-working, American family and hoped, along with Ivy, for her brother's safe return from the war.

Of course, there's more, but this is where I will leave off.

Pam Muñoz Ryan has written a positively masterful story that will take the reader from the realm of magic through the historical travails of the oppressed and the poor in the midst of the 20th century.  Through it all, music gathers the stories together in a symphony of hope and possibility.  In music, and in Echo, there is a magic that will fill your soul.

It may only be February, but I predict that praise for Echo will continue throughout the year.

On a library shelf near you - February 24, 2015.

A Crooked Kind of Perfect

Ten-year-old Zoe’s dad rarely leaves the house. Instead he attends Living Room University, earning an endless stream of mail order diplomas in subjects such as "Roger, Wilco, Over and Cash! Learn to Fly Like the Pros," and "Scuba –Dooba-Do." Her mother is the busy and efficient, Michigan State Controller.

And Zoe? Well, Zoe dreams of playing a grand piano at Carnegie Hall. The problem? Zoe’s Dad, a huge fan of UPS home delivery, has instead purchased her the Perfectone D-60, an oversized organ complete with rhythm section, rumba beat, free lessons and more! Instead of evoking the fabulous Vladimir Horowitz, she’s practicing TV Land theme songs for the brusque, Miss Person, who is fond of colorful pianistic phrases, "Mozart's postman!"


Worse yet, her best friend has deserted her, she’s scheduled to compete in the Perfectone Perform-O-Rama, and school bad boy, Wheeler Digs has taken to hanging out with her dad baking cream puffs! On the bright side, Wheeler Diggs announces that Colton Shell is smitten with her. "'Garbage pickup is a clear indicator of smittenhood,’ says Dad." Zoe thinks "... it might actually be kind of good to have somebody smittening me."


Life doesn't always work out as planned, but somehow it works. Perhaps Dad can find his way to the Perform-O-Rama. Perhaps Colton Shell is not the prize he appears. Perhaps there is more to Mom than meets the eye. Perhaps there are some redeeming features in Miss Person and the Perfectone D-60.

Perhaps in a crooked kind of way, Zoe Elias’ life is perfect.


Linda Urban’s first novel, A Crooked Kind of Perfect, is funny and touching, offering the possibility that what we have may be just what we need.