- Apr 8, 2023
How Milton Hershey Brought
Milk Chocolate to America
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Clarion Books
(HarperCollins)
(pub. 12.13.2022) 40 pages
Author: Tziporah Cohen
Illustrator: Steven Salerno
Character: Milton Hershey
Overview:
" Hershey's milk chocolate is the quintessential American chocolate bar. But in Milton Hershey's time, chocolate was mostly a special treat for the very wealthy. Milton grew up poor and was no stranger to going hungry. When he got a job washing dishes in an ice cream parlor, he realized how happy sweets made people--and how much he liked making people happy.
Over the course of his career, Hershey failed to make many businesses profitable, yet ultimately cracked the formula on milk chocolate. Here was a chocolate that was delicious, didn't spoil, and could be sold at an affordable price in communities across America and the world. And here was a business that could provide good lives in a welcoming town and an education for those who couldn't afford it."
Tantalizing taste:
" He hired scientists.
He hired workers from chocolate companies in Europe to try to learn their secrets.
Cook and cool.
Test and taste.
Milton and his staff worked day and night on his milk chocolate recipe.
YEARS went by.
Batch after batch,
one failure after another,
until, finally ...
America's first chocolate bar!
A melt-in-your-mouth milk chocolate."
And something more: A quote from the back of the book: "One is only happy in proportion as he makes others feel happy." - Milton at age thirty
And here's a sweet dedication: "For Dad (special Dark) and Jay (Milk Chocolate with Almonds)" - T.C.
- Apr 2, 2023
Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe,
the Godmother of Rock & Roll
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Harper
(Harper Collins)
(pub.2.14.2023) 40 pages
Author: Tonya Bolden
Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie
Character: Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Overview:
" Before there was Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Johnny Cash, there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
The godmother of rock & roll started as a little girl from Arkansas with music in her air, in her hair, in her bones, wiggling her toes. With a big guitar in hand and a big voice in her soul, she grew into a rock & roll trailblazer in a time when women were rarely seen rocking out. Her guitar picking was like nobody else’s!"
Tantalizing taste:
" And, man, didn't you play all kinds of ways.
Up on your toes!
Down on the floor!
Behind your back!
Stepping!
Striding!
Stomping!
Jumping up onstage -
in high heels at that!
Hip-hugging your guitar.
Duckwalking it too!
You even rocked fans in the English rain.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe,
with all your
fiery-fierce-feisty picking and plucking,
you blazed a trail for a fast-paced,
hard-driving, gritty, gutsy sound that made
the electric guitar
a star.
A music called Rock & Roll."
And something more: Tonya Bolden, in the Author's Note explains: "After Rosetta died, for years a host of folks didn't know that she had ever existed, didn't know what a phenomenal, blow-'em-away talent she was.
But then, don't you know, the lady had a comeback - became a star again!...
In 2018 - more than forty years after her death - Sister Rosetta Tharpe was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, in the category of Early Influences."
- Mar 31, 2023
The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Orchard Books
(Scholastic)
(pub.1.3.2023) 48 pages
Author: Traci N. Todd
Illustrator: Shannon Wright
Character: Jackie Ormes
Overview:
" Jackie Ormes made history. She was the first Black woman cartoonist to be nationally syndicated in the United States. She was also a journalist, fashionista, philanthropist, and activist, and she used her incredible talent and artistry to bring joy and hope to people everywhere. But in post-World War II America, Black people were still being denied their civil rights, and Jackie found herself in a dilemma: How could her art stay true to her signature 'Jackie joy' while remaining honest about the inequalities Black people had been fighting?"
Tantalizing taste:
" There is music in these panels, and not just from the characters who sing onstage. It's in the rhythm of Jackie's line, and in the quiet, mighty ways her characters confront prejudice and fear."
And something more: Shannon Wright, in A Note from the Artist writes: "The beauty this story brings is to be celebrated because, while it does come with its fair share of heartaches and obstacles, so much joy and happiness sprang from Jackie's hands and touched people's lives in her day, and that joy can still be felt now… As an artist, I celebrate a woman who opened a door for me that might not have otherwise existed - a door that I plan to keep open as the next generation makes their way through it."
