Children's Books discussion

Please note this thread is now open for "General Discussion" of books pertaining to the Music Theme that were *not* chosen as our official six books.

If you would like to discuss our official selections, please head over to this thread where our discussion will begin March 1st:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Here are a few nominations to start with:

The Philharmonic Gets Dressed

Ty's One-Man Band

Handel, Who Knew What He Liked

Boom Bah!

The Composer Is Dead*

Do You Do a Didgeridoo?*

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin*

*Some editions come with CDs; I'd love if we could include a book with accompanying CD for this theme so it's an auditory experience, too!

I have not done any research yet (my own shelves etc.), but before I forget I want to nominate this beautiful picture book which celebrates both music and one of the most famous women of jazz,

The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend.

I will nominate more later, but this is truly a wonderful and inspiring story.

Oh, I'll probably keep editing this and adding books until the deadline for nominations. Oh, how I wish I had a music shelf. Checking all the books on my picture-books shelf may not be feasible.

John Philip Duck by Patricia Polacco

The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin

The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend by Ann Ingalls

Singing Away the Dark by Caroline Woodward

For the Love of Music by Elizabeth Rusch

Just a quick nomination so I won't forget:

The Bat Boy And His Violin by Gavin Curtis.

Oh, and Grandma's Records by Eric Velasquez.

And Music, Music for Everyone by Vera B. Williams.

And Little Rat Makes Music by Monika Bang-Campbell.

Here are some picture books I would like to try. I have not read any of them.

FICTION:

Too Many Cats

Jazz Baby

The Chinese Violin

Berlioz the Bear

Gabriella's Song

BIOGRAPHY/NON FICTION

John's Secret Dreams: The Life of John Lennon

Mozart's Wig

Dizzy

Piano Starts Here: The Young Art Tatum

Here's a few:

The Remarkable Farkle McBride

Plumeria Princess and Tutu's Magic Ukulele

Philadelphia Chickens (perhaps a stretch, but it includes a chorus of cows and chickens that jive)

Song and Dance Man

Song of Middle C

There are other books that are songs and come with CDs that we absolutely love (like Marsupial Sue Book and CD), but probably not quite on-topic.

Dolly wrote: "There are other books that are songs and come with CDs that we absolutely love (like Marsupial Sue Book and CD), but probably not quite on-topic."

Thanks, Dolly! I am glad you mentioned that there are many great books with songs and music included on the CDs. But, yes, for purposes of this month's theme read, the story itself does need to be about music.

Simeon's Gift is one that didn't really wow me, but I did appreciate it (four stars) and it has several other good reviews so I don't want to leave it off the list. It's by Julie (Andrews) Edwards and has a CD accompanying it.

*This is NOT a nomination as it's not technically a picture book (though it's for ages 5-9), but I just want to mention for anyone who enjoys Julie Andrews Edward's work and musical theater, the book "The Great American Mousical" looks darling! Wanted to mention it now before I forget! (I'm not creating the link so this won't appear on our nominations list.)*

My favorite books about jazz music are:
Ben's Trumpet by Rachel Isadora
Max Found Two Sticks by Brian Pinkney
When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat by Muriel Weinstein
Charlie Parker Played Be Bop by Chris Raschka
To see short reviews of these four books and five other great children's books about jazz, see: http://delightfulchildrensbooks.com/2...

I also like Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin! and look forward to seeing other's recommendations for non-jazzy children's books.

I am going to recommend just one book: This Jazz Man

Here are my votes:

The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend by Ann Ingalls

John's Secret Dreams: The Life of John Lennon by Doreen Rappaport

Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler

Boom Bah! by Phil Cummings

Gabriella's Song by Candace Fleming

Zin,zin the violin
 I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello (Hardcover)
The jazz fly
Can you hear it?
Story of the Orchestra

It seems like my previous nomination of four books about jazz is not too helpful. In an effort to be more helpful, I'll narrow my nominations down to three books. (:

Ben's Trumpet -- a gem. published in 1976, but not at all dated.

Max Found Two Sticks -- introduces kids to rhythm and the idea that music can be found anywhere. nice illustrations.

When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat -- a very fun read aloud. sure to entertain and get kids interested in learning more about scat and the great Louis Armstrong.

Hi Leslie and others new to the group:

I know the group is a bit confusing so I just wanted to clarify that the nomination period is actually closed now. Beginning February 7th we opened this up to voting so that means that now any of the books that people nominated from January 31st-February 6th are ones that you can choose to vote on. (Amy, thank you for adding the links to your nominations.) You can take Gundula's post #14 as an example as she chose five books from those nominations.

Anyway, Leslie, just FYI in case you want to change your votes so all five will count. For example, Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin counts as it was nominated January 31st, but "The Jazz Fly" would not as it is not part of our nominations.

Hope this helps! It's so wonderful having new members here and I am always happy to help clarify.

Thanks, Kathryn. I read about how the nomination/voting process works but promptly forgot. You noticed I did discover how to add book links!

Amy wrote: "You noticed I did discover how to add book links!"

Yay, Amy! It's fun, huh?!

Amy wrote: "Thanks, Kathryn. I read about how the nomination/voting process works but promptly forgot. You noticed I did discover how to add book links!"

It seems like my previous nomination of four books about jazz is not too helpful. In an effort to be more helpful, I'll narrow my nominations down to three books. (:

Ben's Trumpet -- a gem. published in 1976, but not at all dated.

Max Found Two Sticks -- introduces kids to rhythm and the idea that music can be found anywhere. nice illustrations.

When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat -- a very fun read aloud. sure to entertain and get kids interested in learning more about scat and the great Louis Armstrong."

:-) Just to be clear, are these three books the ones you are voting for? Or do you still intend to cast your vote for five books? Just want to be sure every vote is counted. Thanks!

I'm a bit confused. So, this nomination thread is now the same one we use for official votes?

If so:

John Philip Duck by Patricia Polacco

The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin

The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend by Ann Ingalls

Singing Away the Dark by Caroline Woodward

For the Love of Music by Elizabeth Rusch

Abigail wrote: "If I understand it correctly, there are only ever two threads for a month's topic. The first thread starts as a nomination thread (and is so named), then when the nomination period is over, it becomes the voting thread (with a changed name). The second thread is established to announce the winners, and - at the appropriate time - morphs into the "Official" discussion thread, of our six selections. The original thread then turns into a general discussion thread.

This method prevents the creation of numerous duplicate threads for the same month. "

Yes, exactly! Thank you so much for your succinct summary, Abigail :-)

This month's procedure is the same as it's always been. Nominations were listed prior to Post #14. As of February 7th, members are invited to vote for the books (from the nominations list) they want to win. (You can see Gundula kicking off the votes with Post #14). You post your votes in this thread, too. Hope this helps clarify :-)

Can't wait for next month's reads (as usual) =)
My votes:

The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend
The Chinese Violin
I, Vivaldi
When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin

Thanks Abigail and Kathryn. I should know that. My brain is half dead on overwhelm these days, entirely my fault not the procedures here.

Here are my votes:

The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend

Grandma's Records

The Chinese Violin

Music, Music for Everyone

Singing Away the Dark

Lisa wrote: "Thanks Abigail and Kathryn. I should know that. My brain is half dead on overwhelm these days, entirely my fault not the procedures here."

No need to apologize! :-) I realized I only switched the nomination/vote in the opening comment and the thread title and failed to make a second post in the thread itself which may have led to the confusion. Hope you are doing well and will have time and energy to read the books with us next month!

Kathryn, I definitely plan to read the book, if I can get them, and so far I've been fortunate: So far I've been able to borrow every single book for this club.

Lisa wrote: "Kathryn, I definitely plan to read the book, if I can get them, and so far I've been fortunate: So far I've been able to borrow every single book for this club."

You're lucky. I've noticed that a number of the picture books getting votes this month will likely not be available at the library, but ILL has been working a bit better for me, so I'm hopeful. I have to admit that I am thrilled to bits that The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend has been getting so many votes, it is such a great book.

I am very lucky, and I don't expect my luck to continue, but as long as I can get some of them, I'll be happy. And I'm one of the members who's voted for The Little Piano Girl; it's a great book for the music theme!

So I hope I get the hang of this. If I am doing this correctly, during the voting window I will post all of the possible books I want to read and then once the voting closes. I will list the five I really want to read.
If there are lots for one book I should try to pick another one so people have more choices??

Is that correct?

Thanks everyone for baring with me while I am in the "learning phase".

Abigail wrote: "Leslie wrote: "So I hope I get the hang of this. If I am doing this correctly, during the voting window I will post all of the possible books I want to read and then once the voting closes..."

That is a good description, only I'd substitute "nominating" for "voting." During the nomination period, which is the first week, you mention all the books which you think fit the topic. So does everyone else. Hopefully this gives everyone a large list from which to choose. Then, once nomination ends, you vote for the five titles you would actually like to see selected.

Hope that helps! And thank for sticking with it! :)"


Yes, and ditto :-)

So, now is the time you would post a comment with your vote for the five books you most want to read with the group next month (from the nominations listed in this thread prior to Post #14). Thanks again!

Kathryn wrote: "Amy wrote: "Thanks, Kathryn. I read about how the nomination/voting process works but promptly forgot. You noticed I did discover how to add book links!"

It seems like my previous nomination of fo..."

Thanks for asking, Kathryn. I'd like to vote for...

Ben's Trumpet
The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend
The Philharmonic Gets Dressed
The Composer Is Dead
Max Found Two Sticks

Nadine wrote: "I don't read many picture books about music!

Elena's Serenade (Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Commended About the young daughter of a Mexican glass blower,..."

Nadine, all of these books sound wonderful, but none of them were nominated during the official "nomination" phase for this month. As Kathryn and others have explained, this is how the picture book club works:

1. during the nomination phase, members nominate picture book titles of books pertaining to the theme that they want to read, that they consider worthwhile.

2. During the voting phase, members vote for five books that have been nominated (no new titles are allowed to be added at this time, and members must vote from the books that have been nominated).

3. After the voting phase is done, Kathryn chooses the five books that have received the most votes, as well as a sixth alternate one.

Because none of the books chosen by you were nominated during the nomination phase, they are not eligible for being voted on; I would suggest deleting your post and choosing five different picture books. I know the method of voting for the Picture Book Club takes a bit of getting used to, but it has worked very well for us. I hope my explanations are not too tedious, but it seems that there's still a bit of confusion, and I wanted to again clarify matters.

Oops! sorry - I thought this was still the nomination phase. I'm having a hard time keeping up with the posts. Thank you.

Nadine wrote: "Oops! sorry - I thought this was still the nomination phase. I'm having a hard time keeping up with the posts. Thank you."

No problems, the system takes a bit getting used to. I'm just glad I was able to help. You'll get the hang of it!!

May I vote for:
The Bat Boy And His Violin
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Ben's Trumpet
Max Found Two Sticks
Gabriella's Song
A couple of other titles mentioned sound really worth reading, but I will stay with this choice because I have them all.

Nadine wrote: "Oops! sorry - I thought this was still the nomination phase. I'm having a hard time keeping up with the posts. Thank you."

No worries, Nadine! I hope when you've had a chance to peruse the nominations (those books mentioned prior to Post #14) you will find five that you would like to vote on. Votes are accepted through the 13th so hope to see you back here before then :-)

I vote for:Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
This Jazz Man

My votes:
Do You Do a Didgeridoo?
The Philharmonic Gets Dressed
Handel, Who Knew What He Liked
When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson
The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven

Thanks to everyone who voted! (And especially to our new members for wading through our complicated nominations-and-voting process! Hope you will have a great time participating in the club.) As ever, I am very excited for our monthly reads together. And I hope our new timeline will allow everyone the chance to get all (or, at least, most of) these book in time to begin our discussion come March 1st.

THE WINNERS ARE:

The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend

The Philharmonic Gets Dressed

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin

Ben's Trumpet

Gabriella's Song

Alternate/Sixth Title:
The Chinese Violin

Please note this thread is now open for "General Discussion" of books pertaining to the Music Theme that were *not* chosen as our official six books.

If you would like to discuss our official selections, please head over to this thread where our discussion will begin March 1st:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Thank, Kathryn! Great list! I will be reserving winners soon.

The Bat Boy And His Violin was not one of the books voted in the main list but it is a very popular book with the students, perhaps because of the combination of music and sport. It tells of the relationship between a boy and his father, both of whom have very different interests. The father is an exceptional man who realizes that his son can be of more help playing his music for the team than picking up the bats.
The cover shows the boy, Reginald, playing his violin with his baseball uniform on, and in the background the game is continuing. Reginald's expression is one of concentration and absolute absorption in what he is doing.
My students loved the references to the music that Reginald was playing and had a little contest between themselves to see who had heard of the composers mentioned. Of course they were all able to tell me all about the rules of the game and several of them gasped very slightly when they heard that Reggie had polished the handles of the bats. They had predicted what was going to happen.
The illustrations are water colors, done by E.B. Lewis. The body language and facial expressions are perfect, making this a great book to use when discussing the power of illustrations.
I like to read it on Father's Day too.
The story is written in first person, from Reggie's point of view, and he sounds proud of his father at the end for understanding (finally) that his instrument is a violin, rather than a fiddle.

Gaynor wrote: "The Bat Boy And His Violin was not one of the books voted in the main list but it is a very popular book with the students, perhaps because of the combination of music and sport. It t..."

Sounds like a great book! Thanks for sharing. I will have to look for this one.

Gaynor wrote: "The Bat Boy And His Violin was not one of the books voted in the main list but it is a very popular book with the students, perhaps because of the combination of music and sport. It t..."

My grandson and I really enjoyed this one!

Abigail wrote: "Popping back in to report on another picture-book biography of a composer, M.T. Anderson's Handel, Who Knew What He Liked, which follows the life story of George Frideric Handel. I re..."

I loved that one, too!

There was a nice write-up in Kirkus Reviews today about the recently published book Roots and Blues: A Celebration by Arnold Adoff, author and husband of the late Virginia Hamilton. It looks wonderful for a slightly older child.

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/blog/chi...



The article links to a good list of children's books about music:

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/lists/mu...

I love the cover of Odetta, the Queen of Folk by Stephen Alcorn.

Oh, more books to add, thanks Mina, they do look lovely.

As a fun and jazzy little bedtime or jazz-time story (well there is not much of a story, but I thought it was very sweet and made me want to boogie), Jazz Baby would work very well with a young child (even a one year old would love this). I could even imagine using it for mother/child jazzercise.

Just found a gorgeous book + CD at the library. Haven't been able to listen to it yet cuz my computer refuses to play the CD, and I'm not geeky enough to do anything but go 'huh?' but it looks amazing.

Can You Hear It?

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "Just found a gorgeous book + CD at the library. Haven't been able to listen to it yet cuz my computer refuses to play the CD, and I'm not geeky enough to do anything but go 'huh?' but it looks ama..."

Oooo! Thanks for posting back. That does look good.

A Fiddle for Angus

This beautiful, evocative homage to Nova Scotia and its tradition of ceilidh (musical get togethers that are often family based and generally informal in scope) sweetly and tenderly presents how wee Angus receives his first musical instrument (he is the youngest son of a Cape Breton family where everyone plays an instrument and makes sweet music together, and for me, rather reminiscent of the internationally famous Rankin Family of folk musicians, who do hail from Cape Breton). Both Budge Wilson's narrative and Susan Tooke's accompanying acrylics provide a magical and enchanting marriage of text and image (showing the sights, but also of course implying the many sounds of Nova Scotia, of Cape Breton, its natural beauty, its strong musical and family traditions). Highly recommended for anyone (in particular if interested in anything Nova Scotia), A Fiddle for Angus is also especially suitable for children desiring to learn how to play a musical instrument.

I appreciate how when his family notices that Angus, who used to enjoy simply humming along during their informal musical get-togethers, obviously now clearly requires something more (more active participation), instead of simply foisting some random instrument on him, let him choose for himself which instrument he would like to try, what kind of a musician he would like to be (in his case, after much soul searching and personal dialogues with himself, Angus chooses a fiddle). Now Angus of course, at first struggles learning how to play his new instrument (and I am so glad that author Budge Wilson has not shied away from demonstrating that learning any kind of a musical instrument requires both patience and practice, and that especially stringed instruments like fiddles, violins and the like are often incredibly difficult for beginners, that when Angus first tries his new fiddle, there is a sound "like a gull whose fish had been stolen" or the "harsh cry of a heron"). The music must be coaxed out, but it will take time for Angus to learn how to do this, to actually master his fiddle. One day in June (many months after Angus had received his fiddle and after many many weeks of lessons), he tells his family (who are playing music on the beach) that he is now ready to join them (and together, they play a wild Cape Breton jig, with Angus more than keeping up, the sounds of his fiddle like "ripples over the water").

While as pictures in and of themselves, Susan Tooke's accompanying illustrations might at times seem almost a bit overly bright, even potentially garish (especially with regard to how she depicts people, particularly their facial features), in conjunction with Budge Wilson's caressingly descriptive narrative, they are simply perfect, providing not only a glowing complement to the latter, but also expanding on it (showing the natural maritime beauty of Cape Breton with its beaches, its small villages with their wooden fishing boats, as well as the joyful and melodious musical traditions of Cape Breton, of close family ties, and that in Cape Breton, music is not only of prime importance, it is often very much a family affair).