Sep/10

Jazz Baby

No comments · Posted by TheDad in 5 Stars, Award Winning Books, Illustrated, Preschool Books

Lisa Wheeler (Author)
R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)

“Brother’s hands tap.
Sister’s hands snap.
Itty-bitty Baby’s hands
CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!”

We met R. Gregory Christie, the illustrator of this wonderful book at the inaugural Suwanee Festival of Books a few weeks ago. He had his own booth and was promoting several of the books that he has illustrated. The portrait he had of Bass Reeves for the book “Bad News for Outlaws” caught my eye and I came over to talk to this young talented guy. When I asked if he would like me to review one of his books for the blog he kindly handed me Jazz Baby.

When we got home that evening, my daughter chose to read this book first from a pile of books we brought home with us. And what an awesome book it is! She loved it so much that we ended up reading it three times in a row (and then three times again before bed). It’s hard to read it without getting into the musical nature of the book. Every time there’s a ‘HIP HIP HOP’ or a ‘GO MAN GO’ you just have to kind of sing it as you read it. Since my daughter can now read a little on her own she said all the sounds throughout the book. By the time we got around to reading it a third time, she read the whole thing by herself.

This is a really fun, easy to read book. It’s a great way to open up conversations about music styles with your kids. My daughter wanted to know what ‘Blues’ means. Yeah, she’s only five! We ended up ‘singing the blues’ before she went to bed and had a blast improvising our own lyrics.

And before I forget – the illustrations are fantastic as well. You want to get up and dance with the characters in the book. I can’t say enough about it. You just have to check it out for yourselves. Thank you so much R. Gregory Christie for letting us enjoy this book with our kids!

Oh yeah!

Parent Meter: 5 Stars! (5/5)
Kid Meter: 5 Stars! (5/5)
Overall: 5 Stars! (5/5)

Awards: 2008 ALA Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Honors

I was only able to find two videos of people reading this book to their children and I picked the one that shows the illustrations better. Check it out below: