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I hope you have enjoyed my Jazz Week. Yes, I know that it ran longer than a week--but I was having SO MUCH FUN I just couldn't help myself. I'd love to have some feedback on what you thought of my theme. Would you like to see future theme-weeks in the future? Would you like to suggest a theme? In case you missed a post (or two) here is the complete listing of my themed-posts.

Wynton Marsalis' Jazz ABZ. 2005. (Poetry/Picture Book)
Leo and Diane Dillon's Jazz On A Saturday Night. 2007. (Picture Book)
Karen Ehrhardt's This Jazz Man. 2006. (Picture book)
Stephanie Stein Crease's Duke Ellington His Life In Jazz. 2009. (Nonfiction)
Carole Boston Weatherford's Before John Was a Jazz Giant. 2008. (Picture Book)
Muriel Harris Weinstein's When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat. 2008. (Picture Book)
Eric Kimmel's A Horn for Louis. 2005. (Chapter Book)
James Lincoln Collier's The Louis Armstrong You Never Knew. 2004. (Nonfiction Chapter Book)
Lisa Wheeler's Jazz Baby. 2007. (Picture Book)
William Miller's Rent Party Jazz. 2001. (Picture Book)
Thacher Hurd's Mama Don't Allow. 1984 (Picture Book)
Walter Dean Myer's Jazz. 2006. (Poetry/Picture Book)
Andrea Davis Pinkney's Duke Ellington. 1998. (Picture Book Biography)
Andrea Davis Pinkney's Ella Fitzgerald. 2002. (Picture Book Biography)
Jonah Winter's Dizzy. 2006. (Picture Book Biography)
Robert Andrew Parker's Piano Starts Here: The Young Art Tatum. 2008. (Picture Book Biography)
Al Perkin's Hand, Hand, Fingers. Thumb. 1969. Random House. (Picture Book)


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Perkins, Al. 1969. Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. Illustrated by Eric Gurney. Random House.

There is only one book--from my childhood--that stands a chance of topping Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb as my favorite, favorite, favorite picture book*. I just love Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. I do. Are you familiar with this one? It's a "Bright and Early Book for Beginning Readers." Yes, it sports the Cat in the Hat in the top corner on the cover.

What do I love about Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb? What don't I love! The monkeys. The drums. The refrains. The rhythm of it all. I love both the illustrations and the text. Both are oh-so-magical for me. It begins off simply with one little monkey,

Hand
Hand
Fingers
Thumb

One thumb
One thumb
Drumming on a drum.

One hand
Two hands
Drumming on a drum.

Dum ditty
Dum ditty
Dum dum dum.

Hand in hand
More monkeys come.
Many more fingers.
Many more thumbs.
Many more monkeys.
Many more drums.

Millions of fingers!
Millions of thumbs!
Millions of monkeys
Drumming on drums!

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. 2002. Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa.

I wish I could have loved Ella Fitzgerald as much as Duke Ellington. The previous picture book, Duke Ellington, was just a wonderful picture book biography. A nice blend of story, jazz, and magic. This one...well...what can I say...it doesn't quite work for me. I'll tell you why. It's narrated by a cat. I wish I could understand just why the author felt the need to insert a storytelling cat into the book, I really do. Because while the writing is nice--still rhythmic with touches of magic--the framework of the story just taints the experience for me.

You may think I look like any other cat.
But, baby, I'm in a class all by myself.
Scat Cat's my name. Scat Cat Monroe.
A name I've earned.
Got my name from knowin' Ella.
Ella Fitzgerald. The Queen of Scat.
What's scat? you ask.
Scat's the sound that don't hold back.
Ella's sound--that was scat.
Singing so supreme.
Music's velvet-ribbon dream.

Let me tell you Ella's story.
'Cause, you see, I was there. From the get-go.
I saw it all. Me. Scat Cat Monroe.
I watched Ella go from a small-town girl to the First Lady of Song.
To a Vocal Virtuousa, bar none.

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. 1998. Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra. Illustrated by Brian Pinkney.

I loved this picture book biography of Duke Ellington. The illustrations were great--and I'm not alone in thinking that, the book was honored with a Caldecott Honor in 1999. The text was great too. The style was very original--smooth, jazzy, rhythmic. The facts were all there, yes, but they were dressed up nicely by the language, the words she chose to use to tell her story. She's a natural storyteller and it shows.

Here's how it begins,

You ever hear of the jazz-playin' man, the man with the cats who could swing with band? He was born in 1899, in Washington, D.C. Born Edward Kennedy Ellington. But wherever young Edward went, he said, "Hey, call me Duke." Duke's name fit him rightly. He was a smooth-talkin', slick-steppin', piano-playin' kid...

But with practice, all Duke's fingers rode the piano keys. Duke started to play his own made-up melodies. Whole notes, chords, sharps, and flats. Left-handed hops and right-handed slides. Believe it, man. Duke taught himself to press on the pearlies like nobody else could. His one-and-two-umpy-dump became a thing of the past. Now playing the piano was Duke's all-time love.

Myers, Walter Dean. 2006. Jazz. Illustrated by Christopher Myers. Holiday House.

This week I'm in with a review of a poetry book/picture book entitled Jazz. I just love the cover. How about you? There's something so vital about it, so expressive. Which gives you just a glimpse of what the book has to offer readers. The book presents jazz as a living, vital, emotional experience. About as far from boring as you can get! The book is a collection of fifteen poems. And they're good. My personal favorite is "Jazz Vocal." A poem that is just perfect for Valentine's Day.

"Jazz Vocal"
by Walter Dean Myers

A sultry love song, sassy as a summer day,
goes dancing from my heart and fills my mind
with such sweet things to say,

Like I love you oh so much
and I tremble when you touch my hand.
Can you understand?
Or can't you really see
what your beauty does to me
and your every word to me is my command?
It's our song. Our love song.
Can you hear it just beginning
Or am I just imagining those precious sounds?

it's a warm night, and much to my delight
my heart beats like a cool jazz bass,
making a special place for us to follow
as we walk on the edges of a dream
or is that horn man painting the edges of a love moonbeam?
Are those chords the heart of reason
or is this just the silly season to fall in love?
The melody and beat are blending
to a happy-ever-ending for you and me.
It's a love song. A sultry love song. All right.

The book includes a glossary of jazz terms and a time line.
© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Dillon, Leo and Diane. 2007. Jazz on a Saturday Night. Blue Sky Press.

A picture book celebrating some of jazz's greatest legends: Miles Davis, Max Roach, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Stanley Clarke, and Ella Fitzgerald. The authors imagined these legends all performing together on stage on a Saturday night...and the crowd finding themselves 'in heaven' with the splendor of it all.

The book has a CD accompanying it. Not full of songs by the original artists, but containing an original song celebrating the book. It also contains a track--nearly thirteen minutes in length that is instructional in nature, meant to serve as an introduction to the genre. Specifically it seeks to introduce each instrument to the reader.

I don't know what it is about this book. I think it is probably me. But I wasn't particularly thrilled--excited--about the book or the CD. Both were okay. (Though I found the CD to be a bit dry and boring. I could see myself falling asleep listening to it if it was 'required' either in or out of class.) The book lacked some of the rhythm that would make it sizzle and pop off the page. For a book about jazz, it just lacked some of the emotions that I've come to expect. (Jazz can be many things--fast, slow, happy, sad, jumping, thumping, soulful, melodic--but it shouldn't be boring.)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews