On a singing tour with her grandmother, Belle learns that the power of music can bring people together—even in the segregated South. The second picture-book collaboration from Margaree King Mitchell and James E. Ransome, the award-winning author and artist of the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Uncle Jed's Barbershop.
When Belle gets a chance to travel the South with her grandmother, she’s excited to get out of their small Mississippi town and experience a real singing tour. But in a Biloxi high school, only seventeen people show up. At a New Orleans club, the manager refuses to pay Grandmama and her band. In Alabama, they get stopped by the police, and a diner won’t serve them anything but a takeout order.
Through it all, Grandmama persists and keeps singing. She may not be able to read, but when she sings, people come together—and she inspires them to do the right thing.
When Grandmama Sings is about family, community, history, and the transformative power of music, illustrated by luminous watercolor paintings. This beautiful family story will resonate with Patricia Polacco fans.
Margaree King Mitchell and James E. Ransome’s first collaboration, Uncle Jed's Barbershop, was a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and James’s highly acclaimed illustrations for Let My People Go: Bible Stories Told by a Freeman of Color won the NAACP Image Award.
