Stompin' at the Savoy

How Chick Webb became the King of Drums

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Sleeping Bear Press

(pub.1.15.2021) 32 pages

Author: Moira Rose Donohue

Illustrator: Laura Freeman

Character: Chick Webb

Overview: "Though a disability stunted his growth and left him with a hunched back, William Henry 'Chick' Webb did not let that get in the way of his musical pursuits. Even as a young child, Chick saw the world as one big drum, pounding out rhythms on everything from stair railings to pots and pans. His love of percussion brought him to the big time as an influential big band leader." Tantalizing taste:

"This new music was just right for Chick. He decided to follow Duke's advice and form his own swing bands. But Chick was a picky 'bird.' He wanted only the best musicians for his band. Once he found them, he and his band were touring the country. That's how Chick happened to hear about a girl with a satiny-smooth voice. Her name was Ella Fitzgerald. The moment Chick heard Ella, he hired her as the band's lead singer.

Being small didn't change the size of Chick's dreams."

And something more: From More about Chick at the back of the book: "In the late 1920s and early 1930s, big bands formed to play swing music. It was a music people wanted to dance to. New dances like the Charleston and the Lindy Hop became popular. One of the most famous songs Chick played, 'Stompin' at the Savoy,' refers to the foot stomping often used in some of these dances... At [Chick's] funeral, Ella Fitzgerald sang 'My Buddy.' By the time she got to the end, she was weeping."

The Elephants Come Home

A True Story of Seven Elephants, Two People, and One Extraordinary Friendship

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Chronicle Books 68 pages

(pub. 5.18.2021)

Author: Kim Tomsic

Illustrator: Hadley Hooper

Character: Lawrence Anthony and

Francoise Malby-Anthony

Overview: "One day in 1999, Lawrence Anthony and Françoise Malby hear that a herd of wild African elephants needs a new home. They welcome the elephants to their wildlife sanctuary—Thula Thula—with open arms. But the elephants are much less sure they want to stay. How will Lawrence prove to them that they are safe and loved? What follows is a gorgeously illustrated real-life story of a friendship . . . and the story of the miraculous way that love given freely will return—greater and more wonderful than it began." Tantalizing taste:

"The herd approaches the repaired boma fence, ready to knock it down again, but Lawrence stands in front of them.

'Nana,' Lawrence says. 'PLEASE don't go. If you leave, you, your baby, and your herd will be hurt.'

Nana curls her trunk and lifts her ears.

'Maybe you're worried about this new home and tired from the journey, ' Lawrence says.

'But if you rest, I'll take care of you. I will live with you by day and camp with you by night. I will stay with you, and you will not be alone.'"

And something more: Kim Tomsic writes in the Author's Note: "Lawrence Anthony died on March 2, 2012. For the next three years, the herd returned to the Anthony home on the exact anniversary of Lawrence's death.

The elephants continue to thrive, and there are children and grandchildren of the original seven elephants now living at Thula Thula."

Grace Banker and Her Hello Girls Answer the Call

The Heroic Story of WWI Telephone Operators

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Calkins Creek

(Boyds Mills & Kane)

(pub. 2.2.2021) 40 pages

Author: Claudia Friddell

Illustrator: Elizabeth Baddeley

Character: Grace Banker

Overview: "Led by twenty-five-year-old Grace Banker, thirty-two telephone operators — affectionately called 'Hello Girls' back in the US — became the first female combatants in World War I.

Follow Grace Banker's journey from her busy life as a telephone switchboard trainer in New York to her pioneering role as the Chief Operator of the 1st Unit of World War I telephone operators in the battlefields of France. With expert skill, steady nerves, and steadfast loyalty, the Signal Corps operators transferred orders from commanders to battlefields and communicated top-secret messages between American and French headquarters.

After faithfully serving her country —undaunted by freezing weather and fires; long hours and little sleep, and nearby shellings and far off explosions — Grace was the first and only woman operator in the Signal Corps to be awarded the Army's Distinguished Service Medal." Tantalizing taste:

"Grace knew she had just what the army's Signal Corps needed -

college education - check

fluency in French - check

telephone operator expertise - check

Along with thousands of female telephone operators known across the country as Hello Girls, Grace answered the call and crossed her fingers.

Full of youthful enthusiasm,

I enlisted.

Women had never been allowed in the army - they weren't even allowed to vote! But that didn't stop Grace. She was used to marching in a man's world."

And something more: Grace Banker's Timeline at the back of the book states that in 1977: "After a nearly sixty-year battle led by Signal Corps operator Merle Egan Anderson, US Congress passes legislation that recognizes Grace and the female Signal Corps soldiers as veterans. This gives them the distinction of being America's first official women soldiers."