Struttin' with Some Barbecue - a review

Struttin' with Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong becomes the First Lady of Jazz 
by Patricia Hruby Powell
Illustrated by Rachel Himes 
Charlesbridge, 2018

Almost everyone has heard of jazz trumpet player Louis Armstrong, but what of his wife, Lil Hardin? In this illustrated,  novel-in-verse, Patricia Hruby Powell introduces us to the the talented piano player and composer, Lil Hardin. She was Louis Armstrong's wife, his early manager, and the composer of several famous jazz hits of the day, including "Struttin' with Some Barbecue." With or without her famous husband, Lil Hardin was destined to be a star.

Short chapters in chronological order start with Liz's upbringing with her strict mother—a staunch foe of "race music," as jazz was called at the time.  However, Liz's talent, drive, and ability to make money, finally won over her disapproving mother.  Lil began dating the shy Louis Armstrong in 1922. Together they played music, married, and rose to the top,

Lil and Louis
were struttin' high on the hog
right there in Chicago,
up from the South,
makin'
raw and raucous
rompin', rollickin'
music.

Dang, they were musical royalty—
inventing
a new kind of sound—
makin'
jazz.

After reading Struttin' with Some Barbecue, you won't be able to look up a recording of Lil's music fast enough.  I've saved you the trouble.  Listen to "Struttin' with Some Barbecue" below.

In addition to a glossary, bibliography, index, etc., back matter includes additional information on Lil, jazz, and racial conditions of the era.

• Read an excerpt of Struttin' with Some Barbecue
• Look inside Struttin' with Some Barbecue 
• Junior Library Guild selection 

My copy of Struttin' with Some Barbecue was provided by the publisher.

See more posts at Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book Roundup - Catch up edition

I am quite far behind in reading, reviewing, and blogging.  Here are a few new picture books that I feel deserve a mention:

• Marino, Gianna. 2012. Too Tall Houses. New York: Viking (Penguin).

A talented artist and writer, Marino's newest is a fable chronicling what happens when neighborhood one-upmanship threatens the friendship between Rabbit and Owl. Marino's beautiful paintings are expertly colored in a palette of nature's finest hues. The expressive faces of the erstwhile friends add much to this brief tale presented in an appropriately tall book.

• Marsalis, Wynton. 2012. Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! Somerville, MA: Candlewick.  Ill. by Paul Rogers.

Despite my relative lack of musical talent and rhythm (though I can read music and play a few instruments poorly), I am a great fan of music and music education for kids. One day I will write a post about the jazz story time, which I feature each year in April, sharing jazz-themed books and music for preschoolers.  In 2013, my job of choosing books will become much easier thanks to Wynton Marsalis and Paul Rogers' new book, Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! Some musically-themed books are difficult to read aloud, and I'm thankful when a CD is included (Jazz on a Saturday Night and The Jazz Fly come to mind), but this catchy, rhyming book may be easily read - even by those with a limited ability to speak jazz - for jazz may be found in the most common of places,

Big trucks on the highway RRRRRUMBLE!
Hunger makes my tummy GRrruMBle.
The big bass drum goes Bum! Brrrum! BRRRUMBLE!!!!

Another musically-themed book:

• Isadora, Rachel. 2012. There Was a Tree. New York: Nancy Paulsen (Penguin).

A favorite childhood song (a.k.a. "The Green Grass Grew All Around"), accompanied by Rachel Isadora's luscious Africa-inspired illustrations with rebuses to aid kids in singing along.  What more can one ask for?

• Sif, Birgitta. 2012. Oliver. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

In a style that is reminiscent to me of Oliver Jeffers' work, Birgitta Sif writes and illustrates this short and quirky tale of an introspective, thoughtful boy who finally finds a kindred soul. 

• Stevens, Janet and Susan Stevens Crummel. 2012. Find a Cow NOW! New York: Holiday House.

The Stevens sisters (The Little Red Pen, Harcourt) team up again for another delightfully silly story following the antics of the hyperactive herding dog, Dog, as he takes the advice of Bird and travels to the countryside to find a cow. In Are You My Mother? style, he queries the various creatures he encounters.  By the time he actually finds a cow, he's too tired to even ask.  Cute.

November is Picture Book Month!

Check out these great "shelf-talkers" from the folks at Picture Book Month.  

Lots of additional resources available at Picture Book Month.

Jazz Fly 2: The Jungle Pachanga

Gollub, Matthew. 2010. Jazz Fly 2: The Jungle Pachanga: Wherein los Jazz Bugs Meet la banda de las Termitas. Santa Rosa, CA: Tortuga.

“Choo-ka Choo-ka ting,” the Jazz Fly’s back!
He’s in the rainforest, selva, so it’s time to pack.

But ¡Ay, caramba! - the Bug Band’s swing
just doesn't make las termitas sing.

So add Spanish words, a Latino beat.
Then those bugs start groovin’ in the southern heat,

proving jazz and Latin are a hoppin’ mix.
(Made all the better with Karen Hanke’s pix)

Let Matthew Gollub do the reading with the book’s CD.
Kids will love it. Es bueno. Check it out. You’ll see.



Listen to and see a preview of Jazz Fly 2 at Matthew Golub's site.
(The original Jazz Fly, is fly, too!)

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Skit-scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald

Orgill, Roxanne. 2010. Skit-scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald. Ill. by Sean Qualls. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

There are other picture book bios of Ella Fitzgerald, but this is the best one I've seen. An unvarnished look at her tattered upbringing that manages to be honest but uplifting at the same time. Rich, emotion-filled illustrations take center stage and offer a feeling for the era, the music and the woman, while remaining accessible to children. An extensive bibliography is included. Makes you want to queue up a record and dance!

Want to know more?  Visit the official Ella Fitzgerald website.

It's Nonfiction Monday again and this week's host is Anastasia Suen's Picture Book of the Day.  Anastasia is the creator and organizer of Nonfiction Monday!

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Bugtown Boogie

Hanson, Warren. 2008. Bugtown Boogie. Ill by Steve Johnson & Lou Fancher.

A jazzy, rhyming, buggy, picture book with great illustrations. Bugtown Boogie has great possibilites for storytime, but I think it will take practice to get the rhythm down pat. Like the Jazz Fly by Matthew Golub, this book is probably best when read by the author. I use the Jazz Fly in audio book format because Golub reads it so well. I would love to hear Warren Hanson read this one!

Dizzy

Winter, Jonah. Dizzy. 2006. Ill. by Sean Qualls. New York: Scholastic.

Just in time for Jazz Appreciation Month, we received a new copy of a previously released picture book biography of jazz musician, Dizzy Gillespie. It is a J biography, targeted at older readers. Dizzy simultaneously chronicles the life of Dizzy Gillespie and the birth of the new form of jazz that Dizzy helped to invent, bebop. I have mixed feelings about the book.

The prose is wonderful and evokes the transition of jazz music from swing to bebop, switching cadences and syntaxes throughout the story.

"He was always mad.
You see, his dad
was always beating on HIM
and there was nothing he could do

but try to be tough
and try not to cry."

and then later

"For the boy with the horn
fueled with a FIRE
that burned with every whooping,
JAZZ was like a fire extinguisher. It was c o o o o o o o o l.

For the boy with the horn, stuck
inside a Podunk town
in the Deep South, where white folks put you down,
JAZZ was also like a ticket
on a train to better days.

So he boarded that train and moved up north
to a place they call Philly.
Right off the bat,
he got a job in a jazz band
and started acting silly."

Winter tells Dizzy's story beginning with a difficult childhood filled with rage, progressing to his musical awakening through the trumpet and the early days of jazz, and ending with his accomplishments as the confident and ebullient creator and master of the bebop jazz sound.

I may be of a minority opinion here, but I think that the illustrations fall short of capturing the scope of Dizzy Gillespie's life. Qualls definitely captures the mood of Dizzy's early life, with its poverty and rage. His acrylic and pencil illustrations with their muted blues, reds, and purples, also accurately capture the hot/cool jazz scene. What I find missing is the exuberance and joy of Dizzy's fun-loving spirit. In fact, only one illustration in the entire book features Dizzy with even the hint of a smile. Winter's biography depicts a Dizzy Gillespie that was known as much for his clowning around as for his revolutionary style of jazz. Qualls' artwork misses that note.

Jazzmatazz!

Calmenson, Stephanie. 2008. Jazzmatazz! Ill. by Bruce Degan. Harper Collins.

A bright and breezy, rhyming romp through a jazzy household. A piano-playing mouse livens up the house with a refrain of "Doo-dat, diddy-dat, Diddy-dat, doo!" The mouse dances upon the piano keys,

"Doo-dat, diddy-dat, Diddy-dat, doo!
I plink, plink, plink. How about you?
Mouse points to Dog,
With his bones and bowl.
"I play my drum with
My heart and soul!"

Cat plays the fiddle, Bird sings, Fish bubbles, and Baby, Mom and Dad all tap. A few of the rhymes do not flow easily, but for the most part, this book with its joyful and colorful illustrations by Bruce Degan works.

This would be fun for storytime with Lisa Wheeler and R. Gregory Christie's 2008 Theodore Seuss Geisel award winner, Jazz Baby, Leo and Diane Dillon's, Jazz on a Saturday Night, or 2008 Odyssey Award winner, Jazz by Walter Dean Myers. There seems to be no shortage of jazzy books this year!