Build a House: A history of resilience and the journey to freedom
Grammy Award-winner Rhiannon Giddens celebrates Black history and culture in her unflinching, uplifting and gorgeously illustrated picture book debut.
Acclaimed musician, Rhiannon Giddens, has long used her art to mine America’s musical past and manifest its future, passionately recovering lost voices and reconstructing a nation’s musical heritage. Build a House tells the moving story of a people who would not be moved and the music that sustained them.
Steeped in sorrow and joy, resilience and resolve, turmoil and transcendence, this dramatic debut offers a proud view of history and a vital message: honour your heritage, express your truth and let your voice soar, even, or perhaps especially, when your heart is heaviest.
Rhiannon Giddens co-founded the Grammy Award–winning The Carolina Chocolate Drops and has been nominated for five additional Grammys as a soloist and collaborator. A musician, singer, songwriter, actor, librettist and MacArthur Fellowship recipient, her many roles and honours include serving as artistic director of Silkroad and performing for the Obamas at the White House. Rhiannon Giddens lives in New Jersey, USA. Find her online at www.rhiannongiddens.com, on Twitter and Instagram @RhiannonGiddens.
Monica Mikai studied painting and earned an MFA at the New York Studio School. She is the illustrator of The Proudest Color by Sheila Modir and Jeffrey Kashou and My Mother’s Wildest Dreams by John A. Light. She lives in Georgia, USA. Find her online at monicamikai.com and on Instagram @monicamikai.