The Jazz Fly (Jazz Fly series)

I really enjoyed this book on many levels. The accompanying CD with Jazz music is great to use for introducing jazz to elementary students. The language uses animals sounds, scatting, and colorful words to move the story forward. The animal characters may say only their sounds but get their ideas across with help from illustrations. The main idea of this book is the Fly's journey around the farm looking for directions to the jazz club where he starts a new type of jazz music.

This story is about a fly who is trying to find his way to the city so he could play in a band. On his journey to the club he meets different animals to ask directions, but he cannot understand what they are saying. When he makes it to the club, the band begins to play, but if they cannot come up with a new sound, they will no longer be able to play in the club. So then the fly adds each of the animal sounds he heard on his journey to the song he his playing. Then each night before going to play in the band, he invites the different animals to come with him.