Danté Plays His Blues

Gr 1-5–At the opening of this remarkable book, Danté and his mother are driving away from a home that they can no longer afford. They are taken in by family: uncles Ron and Joe and cousin Riley. Keenly aware of the young boy’s feelings of loss and displacement, the men encourage him to take part in an activity that runs through their bloodline: music. “Turn yo’ blues into yo’ muse,” exhorts Uncle Ron, and with practice and fortitude, Danté does just that, culminating in a gutsy public saxophone performance. The depiction of a strong Black family unit, with Danté’s circle of support around him and his mother, is a beautiful thing to behold. The text is rich with humanity and compassion but never strays into the sentimental, while the illustrations are a pitch-perfect complement to the writing. The collage artwork bursts with intriguing snippets of scraps, photos, and ephemera that comprise an energetic portrait of Danté’s life. Each page is alive with texture and color, and the characters’ facial expressions go a long way toward illuminating their inner lives. The issue of housing insecurity is handled with subtlety and grace, laid out enough for young readers to understand without whitewashing reality.