Who is Florence Price? is no ordinary book. It is the story of composer Florence Price as told and illustrated by children. I love the background to this book: Shannon Potts – an English teacher at Kaufman Music Centre's Special Music School in New York – set sixth, seventh and eighth grade students the task of researching Price. While they found a modest amount of material aimed at adults, there was nothing for children.
Potts decided to change the assignment and set a real-world challenge: her students were to write and illustrate their own book about Florence Price. In an interview with National Public Radio, Potts said: ‘We talk about representation in literature all the time. When kids are able to become authors and activists, in a way, disrupt[ing] the story of the way that classical music is being told, they no longer, as a diverse population, become victims of a largely white society. They control the narrative. They can rewrite it. And this project, in the way it's been received, really shows them that when they speak up, the world is ready to hear them.’
Telling the story of Price's extraordinary musical abilities (she performed her first piano concert at the age of four and had her first composition published aged eleven), the book simply and beautifully relays Price's musical passion and determination to follow her dreams, despite many challenges along the way. As I read it, I pictured the young authors and artists excitedly putting their project together, bringing to life this empowering story that needs to be told and shared with the world.
The children's contribution is balanced with a short, more academic exposé, which includes a biography, selected works list and a section of further ideas to stimulate discussion on the wider issues around equality, diversity and inclusion. Indeed, these important and relevant topics are at the heart of this book, and the authors themselves sum it up: Cobie Buckmire, one of the pupils on the writing team said, ‘I didn't even know who she was before I started this. All the other famous composers are white men like Mozart, Beethoven, Bach.’
As this is a book for children, I felt it was important to test it out on its intended audience – my seven-year-old daughter was happy to oblige! She was immediately drawn to the whimsical, colourful illustrations and was able to read the book independently. When asked about what she liked about the book she said: ‘Florence kept playing the piano and writing music even though it was hard. I don't think it was fair that people didn't want to hear it just because she was a woman and had black skin.’
As a biographical introduction to Florence Price, this book provides an exploration of some of the issues surrounding gender and race discrimination, and would be a worthy addition to any primary classroom bookshelf. I applaud the teachers and children who poured their passion, time and energy into creating something new, and think they will be in demand to create a whole series on under-represented composers.
