Jazz on a Saturday Night by Leo & Diane Dillon is a powerfully succinct rhyme that invites readers into the emotional world of jazz music. The illustrations are suitable for students of any age. An introduction at the beginning of the book and thumbnail biographies at the back of the book add a nonfiction component to the book.
Jazz greats gather to heat up a Saturday night
with some cool jazz: Miles Davis on trumpet, Max Roach on drums, Charlie Parker
and John Coltrane on sax, Thelonious Monk on piano, a guest guitarist, Stanley
Clark on bass, and Ella Fitzgerald singing bebop. This book begs readers to
learn more about these master musicians.
Young readers will see the audience’s joyful response to the music. Older readers can venture more deeply into emotional territory with conversation about how jazz fills the soul. Music enthusiasts will know better than I how to take full advantage of this marvelous book.
This book is read aloud online by
Patrick Thames.
My Picture Book Talk lesson for this story is here.
