Born to Swing, definitely has a swing to it. The way the book was written it has rhythm to the words. The imagery also gives you a jazzy feeling. Her biography is very well written and just gave me joy to read. I felt as if I was almost listening to her music or speaking the words written on the page as if the book had a tune in the background to go with it. ( )

Born to Swing by Mara Rockliff is a biography about "Lil" Hardin Armstrong and her contribution to Jazz. Lil Hardin has always loved music and when she would play piano, she would play it with a beat. Her Mama would try to get her to play classical music but she just couldn't help herself. Lil Hardin went on to be a famous piano player. She eventually married Louis Armstrong. As she got older, she tried to pursue different careers, but she always came back to the music. They say, that she even died at the piano.

I really don't care for the illustrations in this book. I'm not a fan of the way the faces are drawn and colored.

The significance that she had was being a female pianist during this time period. At this time the only place women fit in was singing jazz. not making the music. ( )

Girl power, again! Lil was the first in many musical fields in jazz America. ( )

Tells a story of how a young girl followed her dreams, she loved music and was inspired by Jazz. She loved how soul-full the music was and how her body rocked with the beats. She explained how once she became so captivated by the music she had to improvise the rest of the song. I think this would be great paired with Louis Armstrong's biography since they had been married and created the ideas of jazz. This book could help teach kids about New Orleans music culture of Jazz and how it came to be. It tells how a woman must excel more greatly than men to look successful within the same professions. That they must fight for their places and be the best they were capable of. The illustrations of this book make it lively and interesting as well. ( )

Chronicling the life of Lil Hardin Armstrong , this book is a first person narrative of a jazz pioneer. I believe this book would be inspiring to young girls who have perhaps aspired to play jazz music or succeed in any other traditionally male dominated field. The end of the book has a more detailed biography and recommend listening guide. The illustrations are colorful and augment the easily flow of the narrative. ( )