Lisa Rose

One of the best ways to teach young children about history and encourage healthy discussions about equality across race is through such picture books.
"The Singer and the Scientist" tells the story of Marian Anderson (the famous opera singer with a rich contralto voice) and Albert Einstein (everyone knows him!) In the America of the late 1930s, the talented Marian found a stage for her voice but not a roof for her head. Luckily for her, in the audience happened to be seated Einstein and he show more offered to take her to his home. What follows is an eye-opening discussion of bigotry within one's own nation, leading to a lifelong friendship.
I loved the story. No two ways about it. The content is presented in such an interesting manner that every child (and even adult) will be hooked.
The artwork is fabulous is well. The illustrations are very attractive, though I wasn't completely happy with the way Marian Anderson has been sketched. She looks too beautified. I wish she had been portrayed as realistically as Einstein. But this is a minor complaint. The book is utterly fabulous in every other respect and I would heartily recommend it to everyone.

I received an advance review copy of the book from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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This book brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful story about an episode in the history of America, social injustice, and Art. The Singer and the Scientist describes one small act by a great man dedicated to Human Rights. Albert Einstein was not just a great scientist but also a political activist who teaches us a lesson in equality and what it means to be a "mensch" while Marian Anderson teaches us a lesson in humility and forbearance in the face of bigotry. This will make for an show more interesting and wonderful read with my grandchildren. The illustrations are beautiful, and the message is mature and instructing. I’d like to thank NetGalley, Lerner Publishing Group, and Kar-Ben Publishing for an ARC of this amazing book in exchange for my honest review. show less

It's 1937, and Marian Anderson is one of the most famous singers in America. But after she gives a performance for an all-white audience, she learns that the nearby hotel is closed to African Americans. She doesn't know where she'll stay for the night.

Until the famous scientist Albert Einstein invites her to stay at his house. Marian, who endures constant discrimination as a Black performer, learns that Albert faced prejudice as a Jew in Germany. She discovers their shared passion for show more music—and their shared hopes for a more just world. show less

In 1937, the African American singer Marian Anderson sang at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. By that year, she had international renown, but in America, she was still forced to ride in segregated train cars and stay in segregated housing. This book for kids is about that performance, the restrictions against her, and the friendship that came out of it.

When she was done at the theater, Marian asked the theater owner if he could arrange a room for her to stay at the nearby show more hotel. He loudly proclaimed it was a whites-only hotel. (And in fact, as Smithsonian Magazine reports, no hotel in all of Princeton would admit her.) One of the audience members then stepped forward to invite Marian to stay at his house in his spare room; it was Albert Einstein. He explained that he too, being Jewish, had been rejected by his own country, and had to flee from the Nazis in Germany. He could empathize, he was to say in an interview, with how Black people felt as victims of discrimination.

Once they arrived at Einstein’s house, they ate, talked, and made music together. Einstein told her how much his mother loved music and that he had almost become a musician instead of a scientist. Then Einstein played the violin, and Marian sang along. The author writes:

“It was the beginning of a friendship that would last long after that evening.”

Rose also reports: “Years later, when the world had changed, Marian returned to the McCarter Theatre.” This time, the owner asked her if he could make a reservation for her at the same hotel she had tried to stay in previously. And this time, Marian said:

“‘No, thank you.’ She would be staying at the home of her friend Albert.”

Back matter includes an author’s note giving brief additional background about both Albert Einstein and Marian Anderson.

While not mentioned in the back matter, the Smithsonian article referenced above records:

"For his anti-racist activism, he [Einstein] was placed under FBI surveillance by J. Edgar Hoover. While Hoover's FBI refused to investigate the Ku Klux Klan and other white terrorist organizations, there wasn't a civil rights group or leader they didn't target. By the time of his death, the FBI had amassed 1,427 pages of documents on Einstein, without ever demonstrating criminal wrongdoing on his part.”

Illustrations by Isabel Muñoz are colorful with more of an animation feel than of realism. But the pictures do convey the warm friendship between these two talented people.

Evaluation: The background information on Marian Anderson and Albert Einstein is far too inadequate to flesh out this story for young readers. But the anecdote upon which the book is based is a memorable one, and one hopes kids in the suggested audience of ages 5-10 will be inspired to find out more on their own about each of these notable people. The book also does not include a list of suggested sources for further reading, but one good place to start with Marian Anderson is the above-referenced Smithsonian article, online here. You can read more about how Einstein used his fame to attack racism here show less