A Story of Ella Jenkins -
The First Lady of Children's Music
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ONÂ TOP
Chronicle Books
(pub.1.7.2025)
60 pages
Ages 5 -8
Author: Traci N. Todd
   Illustrator: Eleanor Davis
Character: Ella Jenkins
Overview:
"Ella Jenkins is an American folk singer and living legend dubbed 'The First Lady of Children’s Music.' For nearly 70 years, she has been writing and performing music that has entertained and engaged generations of young listeners. In Make a Pretty Sound, Ella’s life and legacy are captured in vibrant sights, sounds, and stories that leap right off the page.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Chicago, Ella grew up loving music of all kinds—the call-and-response of Cab Calloway, the exciting rhythms of Moroccan and Indian records spun in a local record shop, the bluesy notes her uncle teased from his harmonica. She listened to music from around the world, and no matter what language it was in, she could feel what it meant—the bridge in understanding and feeling that music offers from one heart to another.
When she began working with children, she knew just what to do. She knew music would offer children a kinetic learning experience that engaged them physically, verbally, and empathetically, creating community out of song. Soon, she was recording her own albums and became an international star."
Tantalizing taste:
"She tells the children to watch. To listen.
To clap, smack, pop, and paaah!,
each in their own way.
Over their music
in a voice sweet and clear,
Ella sings
songs the children know,
songs she makes up on the spot,
songs her mother hummed
while her brother jabbed at air.
Songs about growing up in Bronzeville,
about whistling with the birds.
And all at once,
all at once,
Ella knows:
It is time to go home.
And something more: The About Ella Jenkins section explains that "Ella's career has spanned nearly 70 years and touched generations of children and their grown-ups. In the earliest days of her career, she introduced young children of many ethnicities to the beauty and power of Black music and of music from all over the world. In 2004, the Recording Academy recognized her accomplishments with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards, and in 2005, the album cELLAbration: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins won a Grammy for Best Musical Album for Children. In 2023, she turned 99 years old - what a life she has lived!"