Jazz by Walter Dean Myers; illustrated by Christopher Myers

a. Bibliographic data
Myers, Walter Dean. 2008. JAZZ. Ill. by Christopher Myers. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 9780823421732

b. Brief plot summary
A collection of poetry that allows the reader to step into the world of jazz.

c. Critical analysis
The structure of Myers’ poetry lends itself well to a read aloud setting. The lines are rhythmic and exude the aspects of Jazz music. The different poems describe the rhythm of the drums in Africa and the jazz beats of New Orleans, as well as significant African American musicians like Louis Armstrong. Each selection brings to life a variation of Jazz music, such as ragtime, be-bop, swing and fusion.

The illustrations provided by Christopher Myers, bring life to the text written by his author father. The varying skin tones and facial features of the African American characters echo the colorful imagery created by the author. Each illustration shows movement in the people and objects, an important ingredient in a book about Jazz music.

d. Reviews/Awards
• From Publisher’s Weekly: “Walter Dean Myers infuses his lines (and the rests between them) with so much savvy syncopation that readers can't help but be swept up in the rhythms.”
• From SLJ: “The expressionistic figures are surrounded by high-contrast colors in which the visible brushstrokes curve around their subjects, creating an aura that almost suggests sound waves.”
• From Booklist: “The father-son Myers team has put together an absolutely airtight melding of words and pictures that is perfectly accessible to a younger audience. The poems parallel significant stages in the development of jazz, but the historical connection is only tangential; the draw of the poems, as with the music, is rhythm, and Myers captures the rolling cadences of early New Orleans jazz as well as the staccato sounds of be-bop and beyond. And, best of all, Christopher Myers' pictures make those rhythms visual, the curving lines of his figures seeming to move off the page, swinging to the beat.”

e. Connections
• Readers who enjoy reading about Jazz may like these other titles:
o Jazz on a Saturday Night by Leo and Diane Dillon
o I See the Rhythm by Toyomi Igus
o Ella Fitzgerald: A Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa or Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra by Andrea Davis Pinkey
o Charlie Parker Played Be Bop by Christopher Raschka
o Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane by Carole Boston Weatherford
• Read one of the many picture books, poetry books, or novels written by Myers
o Monster
o The Outside Shot
o Bad Boy: A Memoir
o Lockdown
o 145th Street: Short Stories
o Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam
o Blues Journey