Michele Wood

Retells in verse form the story of Henry Brown, an enslaved man who escaped from Virginia by having himself enclosed in a wooden box and shipped to freedom in Philadelphia.

Enslaved African Americans longed for freedom, and that longing took many forms including music. Drawing on biblical imagery, slave songs both expressed the sorrow of life in bondage and offered a rallying cry for the spirit. Like a Bird brings together text, music, and illustrations by Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator Michele Wood to convey the rich meaning behind thirteen of these powerful songs.

Poetry, art, and music come together to tell the history of gospel music.

Presents the life of the jazz musician, describing her love of music as a child, her work as a composer and musician in Chicago, her marriage to Louis Armstrong, and her colloaboration with some of the greatest jazz musicians of her era.