Growing up poor in New Orleans, Louis Armstrong is often hungry, but the thing he dreams

Author: Alan Schroeder
Illustrator: Floyd Cooper
Format: Paperback
Published: Random House, 1996

Growing up poor in New Orleans, Louis Armstrong is often hungry, but the thing he dreams of the most is a dented coronet he sees in a pawnshop window. Louis runs errands, and sells anything he can find - rags, coal, and even onions. A nickel and a dime at a time, Louis earns the $5.00 he needs. Just one of several possibly apocryphal stories about Louis Armstrong?s first horn, this one aptly conveys the spirited personality of the troublemaker who becomes the most famous trumpeter in history. Cooper?s luminous illustrations add a gentle, affecting tone to the story.