Piano Starts Here: The Young Art Tatum

So many of the biographies of jazz musicians take on such a far-fetched artistic approach that they lose some of their gravity. This book didn't fall prey to that classic mistake. It was a biography in the truest sense. I enjoyed this. I know that I have no business speaking on the members of the jazz community, but I felt comfortable reading this anyway. The first person point of view was an interesting choice that gave the text a subtle humanized quality. Rather than reading about this musician as though he were someone in a portrait on a wall, he was approachable and identifiable. When the author chose to reference other jazz greats as acquaintances of Art Tatum, I read without knowing who I was reading about, but I didn't feel as though I lost a sense of what the story was expressing. This is a great addition to any children's biography collection. The watercolor paint illustrations were distorted and difficult to make out, but I suppose it went with the overall jazzy tone of the story. Though I'm not a big fan of that particular style, there is a fan base for it since Robert Andrew Parker is a Caldecott Honor Winning illustrator. The text was really the strength, with strong word choice and evident research throughout. ( )

Art Tatum, a young black boy who can't see the difference between night and day, lives in humble upbringings with his mother and father in Ohio. Even though he can't see the keys of the piano, the first time he stokes them, the sound fills his heart with joy. Even though he can't see the keys, he knows that piano; he knows the keys, the pedals, the sweet sounds of music that people sing to when he plays. The music that young Art Tatum makes with the piano please everyone. He plays at home, church, school, at the cafe around the corner, and even at a neighborhood bar. Tatum's music spreads from town to town and he is soon playing his piano for people around the country. But even as Art Tatum becomes famous and travels all around to delight people with the stroke of the piano key, he thinks about his family and friends back home that were the first to hear his sweet sounds. ( )

This book is about a young boy who learns how to play the piano and becomes very talented at it. One day he ends up a very famous piano player and travels around the world.

I really enjoyed this book! It was really encouraging and I think children would really like it because there isn't a lot of words on the pages.

For extension, I would have the class do further research on Art Tatum and write a paper on how he influences them. ( )