Ordinary Days: The Seeds, Sound, and City That Grew Prince Rogers Nelson

Via emotional verse and lavender-tinged spreads, Joy and Alcántra capture the life and artistry of Prince Rogers Nelson (1958–2016) in this evocative picture book. Growing up with financial precarity in a tumultuous household, Prince found comfort in everyday music, from clanking dishes to his father’s piano playing (“Hard and round, he carried sound like seeds or lucky pennies”). After he received his first guitar, music became his “most faithful friend,” allowing him “to play what he’d been hiding deep in pockets.” Joy’s assonant free verse and Alcántra’s purple and gray watercolor washes create a contemplative mood, the art palette warming as an often-spotlit Prince finds his musical voice. A harmony of poetry and artwork conveys few biographical details, included in a lengthy author’s note. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A playlist concludes. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)