John Coltrane's Giant Steps

by Chris Raschka

You may be surprised
at the tricky music
a box,
a snowflake,
some raindrops,
and a kitten
can make.

Right before your eyes.
And on the pages
of this book.

There is someone
backstage
watching, encouraging
our performers
but keeping them
under control.

Why not
listen along?

Genres: Picture Books, Music, Art, Childrens, Jazz, Biography, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2002

About the author

Chris Raschka is the illustrator of The Hello, Goodbye Window, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal. He is also the illustrator of the Caldecott Honor Book Yo! Yes?; Charlie Parker Played Be Bop; Mysterious Thelonious; John Coltrane’s Giant Steps; Can’t Sleep; and The Magic Flute. He lives with his wife and son in New York City.

Reviews

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never read another book like this. He uses symbols to play music all over the pages. Very unique! Raschka uses great creativity in composing the "music" in this book. It would be fun to either create music or use the song Coltrane when reading this book. Or, students could make their own art to music. It could be an anticipatory set to learning about jazz.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a heady book, man.
It could be interesting to read this book to kids and have them listen Giant Steps, and then read the book again to see if kids felt differently. Or I would be really curious to see this in an ASL Storytime setting. Also if Wynton Marsalis could read this I would appreciate that.

[Patrice · Rating 2 out of 5]

As one of my students said, "this books makes no sense."

I get the whole trying to be artsy-fartsy and write and illustrate a book about jazz, but seriously?!

I like jazz and don't see the connection to the ending of this picture book.

[Karen Witzler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jazz represented on the page and broken down for very young readers. I read the book without the original accompanying CD of the Coltrane composition "Giant Steps", but it was still fresh and engaging.

[Amy Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book!  For fans of Charlie Parker Played Be Bop, Chris Raschka takes John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" and transposes it into a beautiful and abstract picture book by using visuals to show what a song might look like.  It's fun, colorful, creative, and great for the child who loves music and rhythm.  Great for grades PreK-2.

Review cross-listed here!

[Heather Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review found on The Lemon Librarian.

Score:   out 5 lemons

This picture book may be lost on me.

Chris Raschka‘s lively illustrations bring John Coltrane’s unique jazz style to life using a box, a snowflake, some snowflakes, and a kitten. Each character represents a specific element of music, such as the tempo and melody. These elements animate music as a visual experience for children. As the musical sequence progresses, the characters change color to reflect the movement of music. What’s fun is that the conductor/narrator allows the cast of characters to stumble in the music and then calls for them to stop! The conductor gives each character some mild criticism and compliments, and they restart their energetic performance, ending with brilliance and a series of “bravos”.

I appreciate and enjoy the concept of representing music as a literary experience specifically targeting children. I also appreciate introducing children to famous jazz figures and music terminology. People may experience music in different ways. This captivating storytelling is certainly unique and expressed brightly with vivid alternating colors on the pages. It’s experimental and exciting to the eyes.

Although, I’m not sure if I “got” it. Maybe those with more experienced musical backgrounds will understand, and perhaps children, but it may require instruction and explanation. This book could be utilized in a unit, as part of a series of activities for children. My copy of the book did not come with a CD to follow along with, but that may have helped understanding the musical sequence in the story. I did, however, listen to John Coltrane’s spirited and complex Giant Steps track on YouTube while reading the story, which allowed me to grasp the tone of the picture book.

Overall, I found the picture book charming with its colorful illustrations, but also confusing. To those who are musically and analytically inclined, they may enjoy this introduction to jazz and music expressed visually. It is clever in concept, but it might be confusing for younger children without any sort of explanation or guidance from more experienced readers.

Recommended for primary readers.

[Libby Erwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Coltrane's Giant Steps by Chris Raschka is unlike any book I have read before. The book is pretty much creating a song but through the words on pages, allowing for so much imagination and thought from the students. I liked how there was an attempt to show sounds in picture form, even though they may seem kind of random this allows for students to make a correlation between sounds and how it would be viewed if you could write it. This book captivated me from the start because I did not know what to expect. There is a build up from simple sounds to combining other sounds in attempt to create a whole song, even though it kind of becomes a mess at some points. Also, I liked how this book used sounds from the environment for some parts because that makes it much more interesting to a student when they can relate initially.

The purpose of this book in a classroom environment would most likely stem to a music class. A music teacher could read this to a class and have them use different instruments to simulate similar sounds in the book. When different instruments are talked about in the book, that also gives the teacher an opportunity to introduce new music styles and sounds to the students, which is very interesting to a young group of learners. I think that this book would be good for first and second grade students because although the content and word choice is pretty similar, the connection of sounds and instruments could become confusing to any child younger than that. Even though this book surrounds music, I think you can pull varying themes out, such as working together. In preparation to make a song, many different sounds and instruments have to be working together to accomplish that goal, and the same aspect can be used for many different situations in life.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent an hour and a half shelf-straightening in our kids lit section, and came up with this irresistible picture book. The author credit, "remixed by chris raschka," sealed the deal. Raschka basically breaks down the basic components of music and gives each (tempo, beat, harmony, and melody) a visual tag that is easily recognizable when they appear on the following pages.

In the style of a laidback conductor, the book's narrator calls forth the music and makes them combine on the page. Interestingly, he allows them to get it wrong the first time. This allows for further interpretation of Coltrane and how he created his music. It's very abstract visually on the page, but the tone and words used hit the right pitch.

My only criticism is that the three of the elements are free form shapes (although he gives them identifying labels), but the "melody" is a black outline kitten. Because the "melody" must always look like a kitten, I think it restricts Raschka's creativity in composing each page. Plus, I think it needs to a be a bigger book with larger pages. Then, I think Raschka could have gone wild.

I still have to listen to the book while actually listening to Coltrane. But, this is definitely a book I would share with a child with whom I also wanted to share a love for music, specifically jazz.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interestingly, the author/illustrator tries to visually create John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" with some help from a box, a snowflake, raindrops, and a kitten. With the raindrops representing tempo, the box representing sound foundation, the snowflake representing the harmony, and the kitten representing the melody, readers are taken on a visual tour of an auditory experience. When things go wrong, the author (or conductor) interrupts the music with suggestions about how to improve. The watercolor and ink illustrations flow beautifully across the pages, evoking some sort of feeling. How likely young readers are to understand what's happening on the book's pages or make the connection to Coltrane is debatable, but the book and his music might inspire some excellent thinking, writing, and drawing.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty lame. The pictures themselves are OK, but the concept is weak. Any Coltrane connection is tenuous at best. Seems to me like just hipster name dropping. One could probably insert any name and it wouldn't make much difference.

The historical text is not accurate. Coltrane did not himself refer to what he did as "sheets of sound" - and "Giant Steps" is not an example of the sheets of sound approach. So we are on shaky ground to begin with.

Also, why is the word "base" used instead of "bass" - if the "snowflake is taking the piano part tonight" and it's implied that the raindrops are the drums? Oops.

[Frederic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Raschka's newest, The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra: The Sound of Joy Is Enlightening, but this one didn't do it for me. I know Coltrane and "Giant Steps" quite well, but I couldn't see how the illustrations and text here -- as cute as they are -- add anything, or how they could realistically help a new listener to better understand the piece. Nice effort though, and it clearly led to even stronger works.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Coltrane's Giant Steps is an excellent song regardless of how well one understands the complexities of his music. However, this lovely "remix" my Chris Raschaka paints the song out and exposes some of it's more hidden details. It's a simple idea and a fun to read book, and after it you can listen to Giant Steps and realize that now you have a better understanding of the song without having to attend some sort of "Understanding Jazz" class.

[Molly Raspberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chuckled when I first saw Raschka's book at a local kids bookstore. I never thought of Coltrane's piece that way until I read the book. If only I were a kid again and someone hand me a recording of Giant Steps along with this book, it would've made me the happiest kid on earth. In hindsight, I should have gotten a copy of this book for myself.

This is definitely recommended for young musicians to be, or young music audiences to learn about jazz!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just weird. But it would be weird in a good way if it could be read to students by an enthusiastic music teacher who loves jazz and could convey the message of the book. While I consider myself rather musically adept, I'm not very knowledgeable about jazz and so the abstractness of this book left me scratching my head a bit. I think it has a cool concept, my brain just hasn't figured out what it all means yet.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Coltrane's Giant Steps was a decent book, it had a lot of details with the illustrations along with the story as well. It was neat when Chris Raschka had objects represent the music instrument, but at times it seemed a little busy. Along with that at times it was hard to follow and not a whole lot interning to me. Overall it was a decent book , but I would read it to upper level elementary students.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was glad to see Coltrane make it into a children's book, but the concept worked better for me than the execution. Nonetheless, Raschka's illustrations are strong and full of energy like the music that inspired it, with the layering of symbols/images and colors to parallel the tempo, beat, harmony and melody. Cool cat! The transparent cover with black inked cat is very effective.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love what this book did to "illustrate" music.
It can also be easily adapted to create a lesson for children.
I've used the book to show the children what can be "seen" when listening to a song, then we listened to the piece and discussed how the pictures matched what the sounds were.
You can then steal this idea to use with other pieces of music.

[Fisal Ansari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age:
Grades 9--YA

Genre:
Picture book/poetry.

Diversity
African American jazz.

Illustrations:
drawings.

Personal response:
Great mix of music, poetry and pictures.

Curricular or programming connections:
Not sure.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book might take some analyzing from students. I don't think they will get it right away. It might help to play the song too and discuss how each instrument works together to form a song (like the box, snowflake, kitten, and raindrop)

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I was rating this for personal enjoyment it would be four stars. I like it. But I've had 8 years of music performance experience. I don't think I would have "gotten" the book without that.

Kids will be confused by it - probably - not excited about listening to Coltrane.

[E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book yesterday at the Joslyn Art Museum store. It is a beautiful, visual exploration of the music of John Coltrane, particularly his rhythm. I think it would be a great book to use in teaching a child about jazz and improvisation.

[Miri Gifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fabulous for music lovers. It's beautiful even if you don't know anything about music, but there is a lot of musical jargon, so I really don't know how it would appeal to those who don't know it.

[Amber Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can be a very confusing book for children, but it can be introduced in a classroom or music room as a whole group to be explained. Mainly for music literature, this picture book shows the reader how to picture beat/temp/melody. Very interesting...

[Mirranda Rhea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like this one. I did however like how he includes the readser in the book. Tells you what they are going to do and how each thing has its own job. I did like that, but other than that I did not like the book.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmmm. I'm not a fan. I'm also not really a visual person. Had the shapes stayed the same color I might have been able to follow this a bit better. I see some reviewers have mentioned a CD coming with the book--my library copy did not have that, and I bet it would have helped.

[Elvira · Rating 4 out of 5]

A conceptual book that gives a visual element to John Coltrane's music "Giant Steps" in a 60's style graphics. I found it charming reading to my son and imagining the music that would go with the images. I definitely would enjoy doing this for kinder or first graders with the music.

[The Campbell Family · Rating 4 out of 5]

We enjoyed how different this book was, and how it put music on a page without notes or sound. We then listened to Giant Steps on YouTube after. The kids agreed the illustrations evoked the music well.

[elissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raschka is one of my favorite illustrators, and this one is a lot of fun to read aloud to an elementary school class, or one-on-one.

[Christine Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Description: 1 sound cassette (14 min.) : analog, Dolby processed + 1 book (33 p. : col. ill. ; 26 cm.).

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

GGGGGGGGGIANT