Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald

by Roxane Orgill, Sean Qualls (Illustrator)

Overview

“Crackles with tension and verve. . . . An unforgettable portrait of an artist whose faith in herself carried her when little else did.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

With lively prose, Roxane Orgill follows the gutsy Ella Fitzgerald from her schoolgirl days, orphaned and hungry, dancing and singing for loose change, to amateur night at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, all the way to her number-one radio hit “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.” Jazzy mixed-media art by illustrator Sean Qualls brings the singer’s indomitable spirit to life.
Back matter includes resources for further information, and an index.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763664596
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	12/26/2012
Series:	Candlewick Biographies
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	820L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Roxane Orgill is an award-winning writer on music and the author of several biographies for young readers, including Mahalia: A Life in Gospel Music and Footwork: The Story of Fred and Adele Astaire. She is also the author of Dream Lucky, a book for adults about big-band jazz, race, and politics in the 1930s. She lives in New York City.

Sean Qualls is the illustrator of many books for children, including Dizzy; Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane; The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Monzano; and Phillis's Big Test. He lives in Brooklyn.

Editorial Reviews

Orgill’s (Footwork: The Story of Fred and Adele Astaire) fine biography of the singer crackles with tension and verve. Orphaned at 14, Ella bounces from unfeeling relatives to an orphanage, then to Harlem’s Seventh Avenue: “People took her in, gave her a meal and a bed. Or didn’t. In 1934, half of Harlem was out of work.” Many virtues distinguish Orgill’s writing: precious fragments of historical detail, flirtations with the flash of the spoken word (“He had a drumroll like a burst of gunfire”), and, most of all, heart (“This young lady’s got a gift she’d like to share with us tonight,” says an emcee when Fitzgerald falters at an early performance. “She’s just having a little trouble getting it out of its wrapper”). Qualls (Dizzy) creates spreads that reflect the propulsive trajectory of Fitzgerald’s life in an age when everybody was dancing; successive portraits show her turning page by page into a star. A puzzle: despite the title, there’s no mention of Fitzgerald’s scat singing. Readers won’t mind, though. An unforgettable portrait of an artist whose faith in herself carried her when little else did. Ages 5-up. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Orgill clearly shows that Fitzgerald’s career and success were built on the winning combination of superb talent and sheer determination.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

It’s always a gamble how kids will respond to the allure of jazz, but there’s no question that Orgill and Qualls know what makes it so catchy: it’s slinky, rhythmic, and joyful, and on full display in both the lively text and swinging artwork.
—Booklist

The prose account of Fitzgerald’s life often includes sound effects that recall her unique vocal style. For instance, she does not run away from the orphanage, she dashes off in a “skit-scat skedaddle.” Snatches of her famous songs are woven throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, Qualls firmly establishes himself as a leading illustrator of jazz biographies for children.
—School Library Journal

Orgill’s fine biography of the singer crackles with tension and verve…An unforgettable portrait of an artist whose faith in herself carried her when little else did.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The book’s text has a rhythmical cadence and mimics her singing style. The text flows smoothly from one section to the next; the soulful illustrations complement the text nicely and add a rich dimension to the book. Reading this book, a treasure in its own right, is an enjoyable experience
—Library Media Connection

The book’s prose captures the energy and creativity of jazz music, and the book’s title is an allusion to the scatting style of singing that Fitzgerald helped to popularize.
—South Bend Tribune (Indiana)

Sad but inspiring, this picture book with artwork that feeds the story's atmosphere relates the tale of Ella Fitzgerald, whose great musical talent took her from being a raggedy street comer kid in Yonkers who sang and danced for coins to one of the greatest musical artists in history
—Journal Inquirer

From the Publisher

Gr 3–6—As the title cleverly indicates, this book describes how the poor, "raggedy cat" scat-sang her way into jazz history. Orgill begins with Fitzgerald as a child dancing to her mother's records and closes with the 21-year-old woman joining the Chick Webb Band in Harlem. The interim includes frank, but not frightening, descriptions of Fitzgerald's tenure in an abusive orphanage and of the impoverished days when she slept where she could and sang on the streets for money. The prose account of Fitzgerald's life often includes sound effects that recall her unique vocal style. For instance, she does not run away from the orphanage, she dashes off in a "skit-scat skedaddle." Snatches of her famous songs are woven throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, Qualls firmly establishes himself as a leading illustrator of jazz biographies for children. He uses rich reds and blues to illustrate the history of this quintessentially American art form, just as he did for Jonah Winter's Dizzy (Scholastic, 2006) and Carole Boston Weatherford's Before John Was a Jazz Giant (Holt, 2008). His mixed media of acrylic, collage, and pencil capture the richness of Fitzgerald's life and song. The back matter provides plenty of resources for further reading, listening, and Web exploration.—Mary Landrum, Lexington Public Library, KY

School Library Journal

The author of accomplished biographies about Mahalia Jackson, Fred and Adele Astaire and others contributes a gem about Fitzgerald's early life in Yonkers and Harlem. The lively writing sings and swings along with Ella, who entertained schoolmates and danced for coins with her friend Charlie. Her mother's untimely death engendered many bad turns: Petty crime earned Ella time in a cruelly operated orphanage upstate. Orgill clearly shows that Fitzgerald's career and success were built on the winning combination of superb talent and sheer determination, with the teen, close to homeless, entering and winning amateur contests in Harlem. "She'd had a dancing beat in her feet ever since she was a bitty girl in Yonkers, and all she ever needed was a chance to send that beat traveling up through her body, into her throat, and out her mouth in a song." Qualls's sweet pictures, in signature tints of red and blue, convey the excitement of Harlem nightspots and provide pensive takes on the tough times Ella endured. The excellent annotated bibliography includes books, sound and video recordings and websites. (Picture book/biography. 5-11)

Kirkus Reviews