Coming Soon

Illustrated by Charly Palmer

Read by Karen Murray

Also available from:

On Sale: Jan 14, 2025
Publisher: Hachette Audio
ISBN-13: 9781668647349

Featuring artists ranging from Miles Davis to Kendrick Lamar, dive into this stunningly illustrated celebration of the history of Black music in America by the award-winning author of The Undefeated.

Listen to the sound of survival, courage, and democracy—the soundtrack of America. Hear Billie Holiday’s raspy, mournful voice, and tap your foot to Louis Armstrong’s trumpet. Scream with James Brown and bop your head to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Can you spot the 80+ references to artists like Robert Johnson, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimi Hendrix, Whitney Houston, Lauryn Hill, and Beyonce?

Come dance to Kwame Alexander’s melodious narrative of the history of Black music in America, accompanied by the vibrant illustrations of Charly Palmer.

The book includes extensive back matter, providing even more context and history about the music and musicians.

Genre:

* “Laced with powerful imagery, alliteration, and onomatopoeia…, [Kwame’s] verse begs to be sung…. Palmer’s distinctive illustrations offer the perfect accompaniment. A work whose lyrical and artistic genius only becomes more apparent upon rereads."
Kirkus, starred review
* “Palmer cranks up the visual energy with increasingly populous and sometimes kaleidoscopic images…. A “loud and proud” celebration of the roots and branches of a unique musical heritage.”
School Library Journal
Praise for An American StoryAn Indie Next List Pick
An NPR Best Book of the Year
A 2023 KIRKUS BEST CHILDREN'S BOOK
A 2023 PW BEST PICTURE BOOK*"Beautifully crafted and brutally honest, this offers a thoughtful introduction to a necessary topic."
– Booklist, starred review*"With powerful art from a bold new talent, this is a probing and sensitive take on a devastating chapter of U.S. history."
– Kirkus, starred review*"Alexander and Coulter have created a powerful counternarrative in their efforts to answer the question, “How do you tell a story about slavery?”
– Horn Book, starred review*"A layered, compassionate telling that considers how to relay difficult truths, and as the art converges into a visual of past and present together, stirring concluding lines suggest a route forward."
– Publishers Weekly, starred review

$4.99

Format

Format:

Audiobook Download (Unabridged) $4.99
Hardcover $18.99 $24.99 CAD

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Kwame Alexander

About the Author

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, including An American Story, The Door of No Return, Becoming Muhammad Ali (co-authored with James Patterson), Rebound, which was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, and The Undefeated, the National Book Award nominee, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Medal-winning picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

Kwame is also the Executive Producer, Showrunner, and Emmy-winning Writer of The Crossover TV series, based on his Newbery-Medal winning novel of the same name, which premiered on Disney+ in April 2023. The series was produced in partnership with LeBron James’ SpringHill Company and Big Sea Entertainment, Kwame’s production company that is dedicated to creating innovative, highly original children’s and family entertainment. Other current projects in development at Big Sea include America’s Next Great Author, the groundbreaking reality television series for writers.

A regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition, he regularly shares his passion for literacy, books and the craft of writing there and around the world at events like the Chautauqua Lecture Series, the Edinburgh Book Festival, Aspen Ideas, and the Global Literacy Symposium in Ghana, where he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana. Most recently he was appointed the Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts and Writer-in-Residence at the Chautauqua Institution.
His mission is to change the world, one word at a time.

Learn more about this author