Fifty years after the release of her classic hit “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” beloved singer-songwriter Roberta Flack debuts with an autobiographical picture book that explores her childhood and the instrument that inspired her musical career. In The Green Piano, due out January 10 from Random House/Anne Schwartz Books, the Grammy Award winner looks back at her musical upbringing with a story about growing up in a poor but musical household, and her desperate desire for a piano of her own.
The book follows Flack as a child of two musical parents, her mother who played the organ at church and her father who taught himself piano and harmonica. Debut illustrator Hayden Goodman brings to life Flack’s childhood tapping out tunes on tabletops and windowsills, dreaming of one day playing her own piano. When her father brings home an “old, ratty, beat-up, weather-worn, faded thing” he finds in a junkyard and paints green, the arrival of the green piano sparks the young Flack’s desire to be a musician.
While Flack was motivated to tell the story of her musical journey, she initially wasn’t sure how to approach the process. Recalling her years as a teacher in the Washington D.C., area, Flack wanted to find a way to speak directly to children. “I always tried to inspire my students to reach for their dreams,” Flack told PW. She realized that writing a picture book would allow her to communicate her message to her desired audience, but she needed help seeing the project through to completion. “I’ve dreamed of sharing my story with the world for years. I started book projects in the past but never finished them,” Flack said.
Once Flack decided she wanted to write a picture book, her longtime manager Suzanne Koga reached out to literary agent Jennifer Lyons for recommendations for a co-writer. Lyons, who represents veteran children’s author Tonya Bolden, suggested Bolden to help give the book its final form and poetic sensibility. Bolden was already a fan of Flack’s music, and though the pandemic prevented them from meeting in person, their partnership quickly bore fruit. “I think of it as something of a spiritual collaboration,” Bolden said of the process of working with Flack, which involved email correspondence, phone calls, and “listening to her majestic music over and over and over again.”
During her research, Bolden became fascinated with Flack’s early musical interests. “I had no idea that as a child Roberta was passionate about European classical music and wanted to be a concert pianist,” she said. “I love that story because it demolishes a stereotype. It reminds us that the passions and aspirations of youngsters from humble beginnings are not as limited as people often think.” Flack’s perseverance even as her musical dreams transformed struck Bolden as another important lesson—sometimes your dreams can take you to unexpected places. “I want young readers to know—and I’m sure that Roberta would agree—that their calling is often evident when they are very young. Also that their dreams might not come true exactly as they imagine,” Bolden said. “Roberta’s dream for a life in music didn’t come true as she once hoped, but it did come true!”
Anne Schwartz, who edited the book, was similarly impressed by Flack’s determination. “I had no idea how much passion Roberta had for playing the piano from the time she was very young. It was all she wanted to do,” Schwartz said. “As a tiny child, she used her elbows on the ebony keys of the church piano because her fingers were too short—nothing would stop her from playing!”
When Lyons sent Schwartz the manuscript, the book found an enthusiastic home. “I am a huge Roberta Flack fan, as well as a Tonya Bolden fan, so I jumped on it, and fell in love,” Schwartz said. She believed the book’s message about following your dreams would appeal widely. “I felt sure that this heartfelt, deeply kid-friendly, and beautifully crafted story would resonate not just with Roberta’s devoted fanbase but well beyond.”
While Flack’s dreams have evolved over the years, from pianist to singer to author, she fittingly likens her collaboration with Bolden and illustrator Goodman to her abiding passion: music. “When I saw the first draft with the beautiful illustrations, and read the story with its rhymes and rhythms, it came together and took on an energy and life of its own,” Flack said. “That is similar to writing lyrics to a song, putting chord changes together, finding the melody to thread them together and then hearing the song emerge.”
Flack remains determined as ever, despite her recent ALS diagnosis, to pursue her dreams and inspire others in the process. “How many of us are told not to dream, not to try, to settle for what is a ‘reliable’ livelihood?” she asked. “I want [children] to know that they can find their instrument. Whether a piano, their voice, a tennis racket, a pen, a paintbrush. Find your instrument and share your passions and dreams with the world.”
The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music by Roberta Flack with Tonya Bolden, illus. by Hayden Goodman. Anne Schwartz, $18.99 Jan. 10 ISBN 978-0-593-47987-2
