Dizzy

I LOVED this book. The plot organization was very smart.it starts out making you think it’s about a boy who gets bullied, then it turns into him bullying others, then getting abused by his father, but that’s not what the book is about at all. It’s about how he learns to control and release his anger through music. The author kind of takes you on an emotional rollercoaster the first few pages and then introduces the story and I really enjoyed it. I also really like how the book was written. Although it’s a narrative, it’s written in stanzas like a poem or song so it flows really well and kind of adds a rhythmic tone to the story, which is clever because the topic is music. The thing I enjoyed most about the book was the show more figurative language. There were a lot of metaphors that painted pictures that contribute to the tone and vibe of the story. For example, “For the boy with the horn fueled with a FIRE that burned with every whooping, JAZZ was like a fire extinguisher.” I think this metaphor really expresses how music made the boy feel and what it did for his life. I also liked how it was a biography but it you didn’t really find out until the end that it’s about Dizzy Gillespie. I think the message is to be yourself and do what makes you happy, like Dizzy did. show less

Dizzy is a picture book biography, targeted at older readers. It 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 show more 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. show less

A wonderful picture book summarizing the life of jazz great Dizzy Gillespie. Just enough text flows through the illustrations like soft jazz, including use of onomatopoeia to describe the sounds of Dizzy's trumpet and the creation of be-bop. Without being didactic, the book also shares the message of being true to one's self, despite criticisms and setbacks. A beautiful book to introduce young readers to Dizzy and jazz.

Dizzy's story begins with a childhood plagued by violence that changed when his music teacher gave him a trumpet and "it felt good" to blow it as hard as he could. He wanted to play Jazz because it broke the rules. Then he wound up breaking the rules of Jazz. Eventually, his small town got too small for him and he moved to Philly and then New York. He changed jazz with his quirky on-stage habits and sounds no one had heard before. The story's rhyme scheme keeps the reader reading to the beat as if one's singing instead of reading. The captivating artwork is influenced by jazz by using bright colors to represent the sounds coming from the horns.

This is a very interesting children's book! Although it is written as a picture book for children, it briefly talks about some difficult subjects (like the main character's dad beating him regularly), and is written in a unique, poetic way. Because the book is about jazz and a musician who doesn't follow rules, it works well to have scattered poetic lines throughout the work. However, this style of writing might be confusing for younger readers. If read aloud, the book might sound more like spoken word because of the way the author writes the story.

INFORMATIONAL: This book gives a true account of a jazz musician's life. Although the book is written in an almost poetic form, it still includes verifiable information and well-researched show more facts.
USE: I would love to use this book with older students to talk about literary style, since the author uses such a unique technique throughout the book. This book could also be used to introduce jazz, the history of jazz, and the history of African American jazz musicians.
MEDIA: Acrylics, collage, and pencil show less

Dizzy, written by Jonah Winter and illustrated by Sean Qualls, tells the inspiring story of a young boy’s transformation from a violent bully to a legendary jazz musician. Dizzy came from an abusive family and was bullied at school, which resulted in him becoming very violent and angry. Fortunately for Dizzy, his music teacher introduced him to the trumpet, which helped relieved his anger and frustration. Over time, Dizzy developed into a wonderfully creative and talented musician, making him one of the most famous musicians of his time.

Dizzy is a well-written biography that illustrates the importance of resilience and positivity to young readers. This book also contains rhyming passages, which help keep the reader’s attention. show more The illustrations, provided by Sean Qualls, are bold and vibrant, truly capturing the emotions of the book. show less

Dizzy is a great account of John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie life. It is written a poetic rhythmic format. You learn he had a difficult life as a child being beat up by his father and others. He then becomes a bully until his music teacher gives him a horn. The horn is his ticket out of his anger. He likes to mess around when on stage it got him fired at time. But, it is also what made him famous.