Book: Jazz Baby
Author: Lisa Wheeler
Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie
Publisher: Harcourt, Inc., 2007
“Brother’s hands tap.
Sister’s hands snap.
Itty-bitty Baby’s hands
CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!”
Jazz Baby uses body percussion, singing, scatting, and dancing. The text mentions drummers and bass players, but we do not see any instruments, only a record player.
The rhythm of the text is fairly consistent throughout. Adult readers should be able to read this selection aloud with ease. The rhythmic form of the first eight pages is AAAB and continues in this vein with slight variations (i.e. Bass players strum.)
Classroom use: Using only quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests, students could easily deduce the rhythmic structure of this book.
The illustrations leave plenty of white space and emphasize the characters and their movements. My only concern about the illustrations is the incorrect notation on two pages. The note heads on eighth notes are facing the wrong direction and look like “b’s” on one page, and then pairs of eighth notes are turned to become hands and feet in an abstract image on the next page. However, this might create a wonderful teachable moment and open avenues of cross-curricular connections.