Mysterious Thelonious

I love the pictures in this book. The way the words are broken up on the multi-tonal color pages makes it interesting and goes up and down on the page symbolizing the sound of playing notes on a jazz piano. It is a fun book, not extremely informative but very interesting and beautiful. This book inspired me to go watch some of Thelonious's musical feats on YouTube. He was remarkably gifted, the music plays out much like the illustrations on the pages in this book. This book is k-3, and for everyone.

The music of Thelonious Monk is described in this book by colorful pictures and words scattered amongst the pages. When reading this in my head, the words sound like they should be sung, not read. The rhythm of Thelonious’s music can actually be felt by the reader just by looking at the pages of this book. I think students interested in music would love this because this book really grasps the concept of rhythm. After reading this book, students could likes to some of Thelonious Monk's music and then reflect on their new understanding of the book.

Thelonious Monk is a talented jazz musician and this particular book portrays it in such a way that literally translates! The words are written and read up and down, which closely resembles reading musical notes along a staff. Raschka creates a book that relates language and art with music in a multidimensional manner. At first, it may not appear that there are different elements at hand, but upon closer examination the book is actually very interesting. I noticed that as the book progresses, the words and color get more complex. At the end, the words are crowded compared to the wording in the beginning of the book, this is much like how a song is; starts off slow and creates a buildup.

If you were to read this book to young reader you would probably have to prepare for it. The book separates syllables of each word and scatters them in a vertical pattern across the page. This is probably meant to evoke the a melody, and it could work. Especially if you were read the book to the tune of the famous Monk tune "Misterioso", which moves in sixths in a similar pattern. The cursive text might be a little difficult for a young reader to understand. The artwork is a groovy patchwork Monk and his piano.

The text perfectly mirrors the disjointed, angular melody of the music it visually replicates. The colors couldn't more clearly demonstrate timbre. Makes me want to find a general music classroom for a day. Natural social studies integration jumping off points. MUST USE.

Fabulous picture book to introduce an important jazz musician. I loved how the text mimics a scale, and the illustrations also reinforce how the musician "becomes" the instrument in a song.

I did not like this book at all. I certainly don't see how the script writing would help a child with reading and the scattered nature of the words in syllable form made it difficult for ME to read. Additionally, it was pretty boring, no plot. Would not recommend.
Reading Level: 1.3 Interest Level: K-3