 Elizabeth's Song
by Michael Wenberg, Cornelius Van Wright (Illustrator)
A fictionalized account of how an eleven-year-old girl, Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten, saved to buy her first guitar and composed the popular folk song, "Freight Train."
List Price: $15.95 Price: $11.17
Product Details
- Hardcover: 32 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.35 x 11.29 x 8.80
- Publisher: Beyond Words Publishing; (December 2002)
- ISBN: 1582700699
Book Description
Elizabeth's Song tells the inspirational story based on the young life of the noted African American folksinger, guitarist, and songwriter, Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten. Elizabeth borrows a guitar from a friend and teaches herself to play it left-handed. Eventually, Elizabeth earns enough money to buy a guitar of her own and, when only 11 years old, writes her first song. That song, "Freight Train," has become a folk music classic. Elizabeth's unique style of playing guitar (upside down and backwards), from which the term "cotton-picking" is derived, has inspired countless other artists.
About the Authors
Michael Wenberg lives with his wife, Sandy, a ceramic artist, and three children, Samuel, Marieka, and Lucas, outside of Walla Walla, Washington near the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Prior to moving to Walla Walla in 1998, they spent nearly fourteen years in the Seattle area. Wenberg has attended Seattle Pacific University and Eastern Washington University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Gonzaga University. He has traveled extensively in Europe and worked on farms in Idaho, construction sites in Seattle and Alaska, and for software companies in Southern California and Washington state. He is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Since leaving the software business, he's been busy writing children's stories, playing trombone in a local jazz combo, Power Swing, volunteering in his kid's classrooms, and remodeling his house. He has just finished his first children's chapter book, Grandpa's Trombone, and is working on another. Elizabeth's Song is his first children's picture book.
Cornelius Van Wright is a native New Yorker. His work includes illustrations for: Jingle Dancer by Susan Leitich Smith (Morrow, 2000); An Angel Just like Me by Mary Hoffman (Dial, 1997); Coming Home: A Story of Josh Gibson, Baseballs Greatest Home Run Hitter by Nanette Mellage (Bridgewater Books, 2001); A House by the River by William Miller (Lee and Low, 1997); The Legend of Freedom Hill by Linda Jacobs Altman (Lee and Low, 2000); Snow in Jerusalem by Deborah Da Costa (Albert Whitman, 2001).
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