Picture book #24

Title:  A Band of Angels

Author:  Deborah hopkinson

Illustrator: Raul Colon

Genre: Historical Fiction

Sub genre: Picture book

Characters: Aunt Beth, Grandma Ella,

Themes: music, Black history, Passion, Freedom, Slavery

Publishing Date: 1999

Publisher: Antheneum Books for Young Readers

Summary:  Aunt Beth tells a story about Grandma Ella. She was fourteen in the Civil War and trying to find a way to Nashville to go to school. The only thing she took with her was a small trunk the size of a small pie box. Ella did everything she could to get money to get an education. Ella was a singer and a good one. The Chorus she was in traveled up North to sing to raise money to save the school. Many times the singers were turned down because they were black. They even tried singing white songs. Ella and her band sing their last song about slavery, and the audience loved it. They said that they sounded like a band of angels. The band is now called the Jubilee Singers. The little girl decides she want to graduate and be a Jubilee Singer just like her grandma.

I would use this book to supplement the study of Black History. It would be a great way to show how blacks were treated after slavery ended and the confidence they had in themselves to succeed.