He was infected by the rhythm of the story. The nephew loved the pictures and swirls. I love how the music is represented by colors on the page swirling right off it. I think the art, the verse, the feel of this books does an amazing job getting this man’s life across. I need to go and listen to some of his music.

He was a very respected musician on the world stage. Duke was a popular dude and he was a shining example of a person of color making it in Carnegie Hall and beyond. The story of Duke’s life is scatted out on these pages. It swings with that cool sweet tongue of hot jazz. After college, she followed her dream and worked as an editor for Essence magazine, but after watching her husband, Caldecott Award-winning artist Brian Pinkney, illustrate children's books, she decided to switch jobs and became involved in book publishing.Īndrea Davis Pinkney currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. She went to Syracuse University, where she majored in journalism. Pinkney was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Connecticut. The first official story she remembers writing was in second grade - it was about her family. Her mother is a teacher and her father is a great storyteller, so growing up surrounded by books and stories is what inspired Andrea Davis Pinkney to choose a career as an author. In 2010, Andrea's book entitled Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down, was published on the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro, North Carolina, sit-ins of 1960. Pinkney's newest books include Meet the Obamas and Sojourner Truth's Step-Stomp Stride, which has garnered three starred reviews and has been named one of the 'Best Books of 2009' by School Library Journal. Woodson Award and Alvin Ailey, a Parenting Publication Gold medal winner.

Andrea Davis Pinkney is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books for children, including the Caldecott Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Honor Book Duke Ellington, illustrated by Brian Pinkney Let it Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and winner of the Carter G.

Duke ellington pinkney