Singing Justice, Singing Peace: The Story of Joan Baez

Joan Baez’s commitment to peace and justice provides the driving force of this impassioned biography from Brown and Mendoza. “By the time Joan was five, she knew she wanted to make the world a better place,” the opening text highlights. Moving quickly through Baez’s early years, crisp narration pinpoints the gift of a ukulele as a turning point for the would-be singer. Determining that “music could move people’s hearts, minds, and feet toward a path of justice and peace,” the subject is soon performing at coffee shops, clubs, and folk festivals, and pivotal figures including Odetta, Bob Dylan, and Martin Luther King, Jr. provide inspiration and chances for collaboration. Rendered with ink and colored digitally with warm tones, retro-style illustrations are composed like elaborate murals, across which sinuous and feathery adornments connect different vignettes. When Baez opens her mouth to sing, multicolored paisley spills forth—“giving listeners the courage and light to fight for justice”—in a portrait that stirringly foregrounds Baez’s political preoccupations. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)