Scratchboard illustrations and swirls of color add to the visual presentation of swing and bebop. The language is peppered with idioms from that period and flows to the beat of the music. Ostensibly narrated by a beboppin’ feline named Scat Cat Monroe, this book follows Ella Fitzgerald from her childhood in Yonkers, New York through the rise of her career from winning a talent contest at the Apollo Theater to joining the Chick Webb Orchestra to scat singing with Dizzy Gillespie. Themes: The development of the famous Jazz vocalist’s career. Ĭharacters: Scat Cat Monroe, Ella Fitzgerald.Ĭonflict: Not a strong theme in this work. The settings are very fantastical with the characters flying through the stars. Setting: Famous settings in the history of Jazz music: Harlem in general, the Savoy Ballroom in particular, Carnegie Hall. This book could be used in the general music classroom as part of a unit on Jazz music or African American music history. I recommend grades four and up and a guided reading group because there is a lot of slang particular to both Jazz and the era of the book that will need to be explained by the teacher. This book could be used with upper elementary in guided reading groups and as a read-a-loud by the teacher to students in grades four and up. Specific Applications in Reading Instruction: This Smithsonian Site on Jazz has three sets of lessons which would be a lot of fun for students: Ella matching game, Ella Singing Lessons (a great way to introduce Scat Singing), and a set of lesson plans which may be utilized by the teacher to integrate the two other activities. Once the scratchboard drawings are finished, he tints them with transparent luma dyes and paints them with acrylics. He specializes in a technique of painting which is uses a scratchboard–a white board covered with black ink, then scratched away to reveal the white underneath. They have collaborated on many projects together. Notes: The illustrator Brian Pinkney is the author’s husband. Society of School Librarians International Book Awards Honor Book 2002 Social Studies-Grades K-6 United StatesĪuthor Information and Perspective : See on previous Pinkney listings.Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, Ma Cahners United States.Notable Children’s Books, 2003 American Library Association-ALSC United States.Choices, 2003 Cooperative Children’s Book Center United States.Children’s Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, Supplement, 2003 H.W.Capitol Choices, 2002 The Capitol Choices Committee United States.The Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2003 Bank Street College of Education United States.Genre: Historical fiction, fantasy w/ animal personification, biography.Age/Grade Level: Reading level ages 5-9.
Publisher and date: Hyperion Books for Children, 2002.
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