Becoming Billie Holiday

Weatherford, Carole Boston (2008). Becoming Billie Holiday. Homesdale, Pennsylvania: Wordsong.
This book was the Correta Scott King honor winner in 2009, and I can see why. This book really spoke to me. It is the biography of Billie Holiday in poetry form. It goes from her birth through her very troubled childhood and through the rise of her career. It ends when she is twenty five. It does not go into her heroin addiction and other troubles that plagued her later life. It is a sad story in a way of a young girl and woman looking for love and a family and finding it with other musicians. It is easy to see why she is able to sing the blues after looking at her life. The poems in this book are amazing. I loved the poem Trav'lin light: "I toted my songs like a satchel and felt most at home when I sang" That gave me the most beautiful mental image of Billie being to be at home with her songs. I was saddened by the poem Love for Sale when it spoke of a twelve year old girl and her mother turning tricks to survive. There is a line in the poem "How Deep is the Ocean" where the author compares Billie's voice to diving into the ocean. I love that analogy.I pulled up some Billie Holiday songs while reading this book and that is exactly right. Billie had man problems. I love the line: "Ben was bad news that I was slow to read." The poem "I got the Right to Sing the Blues" really sums up this whole amazing work. This is a must read for anyone who loves jazz or needs to learn to love jazz.