R.G. Roth

Set to the classis children’s song, This Old Man, this book features 9 iconic and legendary jazz musicians. From Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie to Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the jazz men in this book tap, scat, and jam their way across the pages in a musical and rhythmic celebration of their lives and music:

“These jazz men, they play ten,
We beg them to play again,
With an ‘Encore! We want more!’
Give them all a hand,
These jazz men make one great show more band!”

Ehrhardt’s text is rhythmic and playful; each verse of the song features a number and a line of scat. The illustrations, created with mixed media collage and printmaking techniques, are a riot of colors, patterns, brush strokes, and shapes. Like jazz, the illustrations combine clean, crisp lines and shapes with free and loose brush strokes and paint splatters. Each two page spread features the musician playing, singing, or tapping with panache. Curling around each musician are hand-drawn words that provide a scatting version of the music of that man, “Ticka-tocka-ticka-tucka! Slap! Pop-pop!”

At the end of the book a brief biography of each of the 9 musicians is provided. Information includes place of birth and major songs played/composed.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2012/07/book-206-this-jazz-man-by-karen.html show less

This is a great picture book in every way - it has great illustrations, it has a nice rhythm to it, and it's very interactive. Kids can help with the numbers, and I like to have them clap along to give me a beat when I read it. I also liked that the author included short biographies of the "jazz men," including their popular songs. It's a good choice for parents who want to introduce their children to jazz music, and I can also see this being a useful resource for music teachers.

Set to the tune of "This Old Man" this sing-songy poetry picture book 10 jazz men that each play different instruments and together make one great band. At the end of the poem, there is an introducing page that tells facts about the ten real jazz musicians that the jazz men in the novel are based on including Louis Armstrong, Bojangles Robinson, and Duke Ellington.
This book is perfect to introduce students to the late great artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

I though this book was beautiful. The artwork is fantastic, the tune is well know to children, and the information at the end is fun for adults and children alike. Books that expose kids to thing they probably aren't getting in their daily life is so good.