Skit Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald by Roxane Orgill and illustrated by Sean Qualls.
As a child, Ella Fitzgerald didn’t have much in the way of money or materials things. What she did have was the gift of dance and she shared it everywhere she went. On the corner in her Yonkers neighborhood to earn spare change. In Harlem’s iconic Savoy Ballroom where she and her friend Charlie paid to learn the latest dance moves. And every place in between.
When tragedy strikes her family, Ella is lost. She stumbles from residence to residence without the means to properly care for herself. It is during this time that she learns she also has the ability to move crowds with her vocal skills. Winning contests at the Apollo Theater and the Harlem Opera House positioned her to meet Chick Webb. Chick Webb was a notable band leader and swing music drummer. He looked beyond her raggedy cat appearance and found that she made the perfect fit for his band! Together, they kept crowds in Harlem moving and swinging all night long! They went on to record a song, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” which earned great commercial success.
In time, the raggedy cat who once lost everything…who was overlooked due to her appearance….who felt unheard and unloved, became a success. Ella Fitzgerald would become a famed jazz singer affectionately known as the First Lady of Song.
Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald is for readers 5-9 years old.