A review by nerfherder86
Strange Fruit by Gary Golio

4.0

This is an unusual picture book, one all about a song. I was surprised to see this particular song used as the basis for a picture book, but one for older readers makes sense; it's a historically significant song that needs some background explanation for children. In a way the book is a little bit of a biography of Billie Holiday, briefly detailing her hardships growing up and where she was in her career when she was given this song to sing, having quit Artie Shaw's band after becoming fed up with the segregation she faced. The book shows how her passionate rendition of it made it her signature song, and explains why it is a protest song against lynching. The illustrations are wonderful, very jazzy and impressionistic, in bold acrylic colors. All direct quotations are sourced, and the book has a bibliography and an author's note that gives the definition and origin of lynching and further information on the composer, Abel Meeropol, and Billie Holiday's life.