“I didn’t have fancy-fine clothes, high-priced toys, or other richy-rich things. But I had music. My treasure. My gold.” As a little girl in Asheville, North Carolina, Roberta Flack was drawn to the piano at church and dreamed of having one at home. She took lessons at the home of a piano teacher, but it wasn’t until her family moved to Green Valley, Virginia, that her daddy brought home an old piano he found in the junkyard. “When can I play it?” she asked over and over as her daddy transformed the “weather-worn, faded, stinky thing” into a grassy green, musical dream come true. “Grown-up me lived this dream! Year after year after year!” A picture book memoir that sings with longing, anticipation, and happiness is paired with engaging gouache illustrations full of their own child appeal. More about Flack’s life and career is included in the end matter. (Ages 5–8)

This autobiographical picture book by the multiple Grammy Award-winning singer Roberta Flack recounts her childhood in a home surrounded by music and love: it all started with a beat-up piano that her father found in a junkyard, repaired, and painted green.

Growing up in a Blue Ridge mountain town, little Roberta didn't have fancy clothes or expensive toys...but she did have music. And she dreamed of having her own piano.

When her daddy spies an old, beat-up upright piano in a junkyard, he knows he can make his daughter's dream come true. He brings it home, cleans and tunes it, and paints it a grassy green. And soon the little girl has an instrument to practice on, and a new dream to reach for--one that will make her become a legend in the music industry.

Here is a lyrical picture book--perfect for aspiring piano players and singers--that shares an intimate look at Roberta Flack's family and her special connection to music.