Leontyne Price: Voice of a Century

A stunning picture-book biography of iconic African American opera star Leontyne Price.

Born in a small town in Mississippi in 1927, the daughter of a midwife and a sawmill worker, Leontyne Price might have grown up singing the blues. But Leontyne had big dreamsand plenty to be thankful foras she surrounded herself with church hymns and hallelujahs, soaked up opera arias on the radio, and watched the great Marian Anderson grace the stage.

While racism made it unlikely that a poor black girl from the South would pursue an opera career, Leontynes wondrous voice and unconquerable spirit prevailed. Bursting through the door Marian had cracked open, Leontyne was soon recognized and celebrated for her leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera and around the worldmost notably as the majestic Ethiopian princess in Aida, the part she felt she was born to sing.

From award-winners Carole Boston Weatherford and Raul Coln comes the story of a little girl from Mississippi who became a beloved starone whose song soared on the breath of her ancestors and paved the way for those who followed.