A Review of LIBBA: THE MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL LIFE OF ELIZABETH COTTEN by Laura Veirs

TITLE: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten
AUTHOR: Laura Veirs
ILLUSTRATOR: Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
PUBLISHER: Chronicle Books, 2018

JACKET FLAP:

Like a girl doing what she was born to do, Libba played the guitar, upside down and backwards.

Elizabeth Cotten was only a little girl when she picked up a guitar for the first time. It wasn't hers -- it was her big brother's -- and it wasn't strung right -- she was left-handed. But she flipped that guitar up and around and figured out how to play it anyway. By the time she was eleven, she'd written "Freight Train," a song so famous you might even be able to hum it right now. And by the end of her life, everyone from the California beaches to the rolling hills of England knew her music. Libba's trip to success wasn't always stright, and it sure was bumpy, but she never stopped in her tracks. She always kept rolling.

This lyrical, loving book from acclaimed singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and debut illustrator Tatyana Fazlalizadeh tells the story of the determined, gifted, daring Elizabeth Cotten - one of America's greatest folk musicians.

BEGINNING:

Libba Cotten hear music everywhere. 

She heard it in the river when she brought in water for her mother. She heard it in the ax when she chopped wood for kindling. She heard it in the freight trains moving down the tracks near her home. 

NOTES: Written in beautiful, lyrical language and similarly illustrated. It's a wonderful, inspiring story of never losing sight of the track you're on. Even better, if you recognize the song Freight Train, and the names Pete Seeger and Peter, Paula and Mary, Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, you will find out some fascinating tie-ins and facts. So this book doesn't just have takeaway value for kids, but for adults too. So well written and so very inspiring!

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Lynne Marie is the author of Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten - illustrated by Anne Kennedy (Scholastic, 2011), Hedgehog's 100th Day of School – illustrated by Lorna Hussey (Scholastic, January 2017), The Star of the Christmas Play -- illustrated by Lorna Hussey (Beaming Books, 2018), Moldilocks and the 3 Scares -- illustrated by David Rodriguez Lorenzo (Sterling, pending) and Let's Eat! Mealtimes Around the World -- illustrated by Parwinder Singh (Beaming Books, 2019). You can learn more about her at www.LiterallyLynneMarie.com. 

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