Little Melba and Her Big Trombone

By Katheryn Russell-Brown, Frank Morrison
Hardcover: $20.95

A biography of African American jazz virtuoso Melba Doretta Liston, a pioneering twentieth-century trombone player, composer, and music arranger at a time when few women, of any race, played brass instruments and were part of the jazz scene.

Front cover for La pequeña Melba y su gran trombón by Katheryn Russell-Brown and Frank Morrison
This book is also available in Spanish
La pequeña Melba y su gran trombón
By Katheryn Russell-Brown, Frank Morrison

Description

Melba Doretta Liston loved the sounds of music from as far back as she could remember. As a child, she daydreamed about beats and lyrics, and hummed along with the music from her family’s Majestic radio.

At age seven, Melba fell in love with a big, shiny trombone, and soon taught herself to play the instrument. By the time she was a teenager, Melba’s extraordinary gift for music led her to the world of jazz. She joined a band led by trumpet player Gerald Wilson and toured the country. Overcoming obstacles of race and gender, Melba went on to become a famed trombone player and arranger, spinning rhythms, harmonies, and melodies into gorgeous songs for all the jazz greats of the twentieth century: Randy Weston, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, and Quincy Jones, to name just a few.

Brimming with ebullience and the joy of making music, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is a fitting tribute to a trailblazing musician and a great unsung hero of jazz.

About the Creators

Katheryn Russell-Brown

Katheryn Russell-Brown is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Center for Race and Race Relations at the University of Florida. She grew up in a family of music lovers, where jazz was an integral part of the sounds of daily life. A radio broadcast in 2008 about Liston inspired Russell-Brown to research the musician and eventually to write Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, her first picture book. Russell-Brown lives in Gainesville, Florida, with her family. Visit her online at krbrown.net.

Frank Morrison

Frank Morrison has illustrated numerous award-winning books, including the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor winner Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, published by Lee & Low Books. Before becoming an illustrator, Morrison was a graffiti artist and b-boy. Morrison lives with his family in Georgia. You can learn more about him at morrisongraphics.com.

Awards

  • Georgia Children's Book Award

    University of Georgia

  • Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honor

    American Library Association (ALA)

  • ALSC Notable Children's Books

    American Library Association (ALA)

  • NAACP Image Awards Nominee

    National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

  • Amelia Bloomer Book List

    American Library Association (ALA)

  • Notable Books for a Global Society

    International Literacy Association (ILA)

  • Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Recommended

    National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

  • Best Books

    Kirkus Reviews

  • Best Books of the Year

    School Library Journal

  • CCBC Choices

    Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

  • Best Multicultural Books

    Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature

  • Best Children's Books of the Year Outstanding

    Bank Street College of Education

  • Best of the Best Books

    Chicago Public Library

  • Black-Eyed Susan Award Nominee

    Maryland Association of School Librarians

  • Delaware Diamonds Awards

    Diamond State Literacy Association

  • Eureka! Nonfiction Children's Book Award Honor

    California Reading Association

  • Louisiana Young Readers' Choice

    State Library of Louisiana

Reviews

  • * "Russell-Brown's debut text has an innate musicality, mixing judicious use of onomatopoeia with often sonorous prose. Morrison's sinuous, exaggerated lines are the perfect match for Melba's story. . . Readers will agree that 'Melba Doretta Liston was something special.'"

    - Kirkus Reviews
  • * "Staccato rhythms pepper the fluid prose . . . Morrison's oil paintings practically sway with a jazz beat, though somber moments crop up, too: the shadows on Liston's face signify the trials of life on the road. A final image showing long-limbed Liston in profile as she plays under the glow of stage lights is exquisite."

    - Publishers Weekly
  • * "An excellent match of breezy text and dynamic illustrations tells an exhilarating story. . . A celebration of the talent and success of a little-known African American female musician, this title will enrich library collections."

    - School Library Journal
  • "In a smoothly passed narrative, this picture-book biography surveys the full life arc of a relatively unknown and unique jazz master. Brimming with inherent and inescapable enthusiasm, the oil-painting illustrations are the cat's pajamas, with brassy colors and jazzy perspectives that slide across the long pages, like Melba's own instrument."

    - Booklist
  • "Russell-Brown's account of her subject's early life is as smooth and stimulating as a Liston trombone solo, and will leave readers wanting to know more about the woman and her music. Morrison's oil paintings, in his trademark elongated, angular style, perfectly convey the jazz scene and, of course, Melba's amazing horn."

    - The Horn Book
  • "Little Melba and Her Big Trombone will delight every child who carries a rhythm or song in their heart."

    - San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
  • "Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is a finger-popping slice of history that offers a peep-hole into the little-known world of a female jazz players of the 1920s."

    - New York Journal of Books

Hardcover

  • ISBN 9781600608988
  • Publication Date Jul 01, 2014
  • Trim Size 8.75 × 10.5 in
  • Weight 0.9375 lbs
  • Page Count 40
  • Interests

  • Audience Children
  • BISAC Category 1 JNF / Biography & Autobiography / Music
  • BISAC Category 2 JNF / People & Places / United States / African American
  • BISAC Category 3 JNF / Biography & Autobiography / Women
  • Themes African / African American / Black, Biography / Memoir, Breaking Gender Barriers, Childhood Experiences and Memories, Civil Rights Movement, Courage, Discrimination, Dreams & Aspirations, Education, History & Civics, Identity / Self Esteem / Confidence, Informational / Expository Nonfiction, Jazz, Mothers, Music, Nonfiction, Optimism / Enthusiasm, Overcoming Obstacles, Persistence / Grit, Pride, United States History, Women's History
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 6 - 10
  • Grade Range Grades 1 - 5
  • Guided Reading Q
  • ATOS Book Level 4.7
  • DRA 40
  • Interest Level Grades 1 - 5
  • Lexile Code AD
  • Lexile Level 780
  • Reading Level Grades 3 - 4
  • Bebop Reading Fluent
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