I really wanted more from this book. I don't feel like I got much detail about Nina Simone's life. And I wanted it!! Normally, there are at least author's notes to refer to but not this time.

One statement I did like was "music has one heart." An overarching theme throughout this book is how music was Nina's bridge. It was her love and how she wanted to impact. That is easy to relate to. ( )

I enjoyed the lyrical style of writing within this book. The description of the black keys in a comparison about black race was interesting. It is not a typical biography. It did not go into in-depth details about the things she had done as an activist. It was more of a dream-like memoir than the typical biography. I enjoyed the flow of the words that were so beautifully illustrated. ( )

The black and white illustrations tie in perfectly with the theme of the book. I had never thought about the piano as a comparison to how African-American lives were. In the book, she said, "Black people were nothing but half notes on a huge ivory keyboard." ( )

I had only heard of Nina Simone from the trailer of the documentary "What happened, Miss Simone?" on Netflix, a movie which I haven't seen yet (though I do want to watch, eventually). I knew that she was a musician before she left everything behind to move to Liberia. This book, however, isn't about that; the whole biography is told through Nina Simone telling her daughter a bedtime story. The bedtime story is about Nina's life, and her involvement with music and the civil-rights movement. Throughout the story, Nina remarks on the stark contrast between black and white: when she began to play the piano, the white keys were whole notes and the black keys were half notes; white people were allowed to do as they please and sit where they wanted to, while black people had little to no freedom- they were just like the black half note keys on the piano. As Nina got older, her talent grew, and she was asked to give a piano performance at her church when she was twelve years old. Her mom sat in the front row to see her daughter, but was then forced to get up when white people arrived. Nina refused to play due to this injustice, until her mom sat back down in the front row. Nina then says how Martin Luther King Jr. had a similar dream to her- for all people to be equal, no matter their race. I enjoyed this book, though I wish it went more in-depth with Nina Simone's life story. The way the book framed her biography as a bedtime story was very smart and unique, and the illustrations (all done in black and white pointillism) are an excellent way to illustrate the separation of black and white that Nina saw while growing up. Having children read this story would be a good way to introduce them to not only Nina Simone, but to the civil rights movement as well. ( )

This book was an unexpected surprise. I chose this book because I had heard of Nina Simone, and I skimmed through the pages and was wondering why the pages were in black and white. It was when I read page nine, that my jaw hit the floor. Nina was explaining the difference between white keys which meant whole notes, and the black keys meant half notes, so she asked her teacher why it was this way. Her teacher states, "Because that just the way it is. Yes, that is the way it was. White was whole. Black was half. It was that way everywhere and for everyone." Instantly, I knew that the black and white illustrations were purposeful, and it truly captured the essence of Nina and her views of the world. This book was stimulating in such an expected way. You don’t get much more of Nina’s story beyond her performance past the age of 12, but I love how Martin Luther King Jr’s speech was Nina’s “symphony.” Overall, this has been one of my favorite books I have read so far, and I can’t wait to share it with my students. ( )