Joni

The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell

Harper Collins

(pub. 2.25.2020) 

48 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor and illustrator: 

      Selina Alko
  

C haracter: Joni Mitchell

O verview:

       

"When Joni Mitchell wrote songs, her lyrics told stories. When she sang, her music spoke the truth.

But before composing more than two hundred songs, Joni was a young girl from a town on the Canadian prairie, where she learned to love dancing, painting, birdsong, and piano. As she grew up into an artist, Joni took her strong feelings—feelings of love and frustration, the pain of having polio, and the turbulence that came with being a young woman—and wrote them into vivid songs.

Brought to life by Selina Alko’s rainbow collages and lyrical language, this heartfelt portrait of a feminist and folk icon is perfect for parents, children, and music lovers everywhere."

T antalizing taste: 

"Next, Joni followed her music to New York City. Her neighborhood, Chelsea, was abuzz with energy. There were a thousand stories on a single block. The sounds of horns and people and pigeons drifted through butterscotch curtains.

Joni wrote her feelings of joy and wonder into a song called 'Chelsea Morning.'"

And something more:  In the Author's Note, author-illustrator Selina Alko explains that "in creating Joni's story for this picture book, I felt as if I was on a  personal journey of self-discovery, remembering my earliest creative and artistic influences - a captive on my own 'carousel of time.'"