Customer Reviews

Bring on that Beat

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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"Bring on That Beat," by Rachel Isadora, is a book that celebrates jazz through poetry and illustrations. The book jacket notes that it takes place in Harlem in the 1930s.

The illustrations are primarily in black-and-white, with a charcoal-like look. Superimposed on these illustrations are playfully surreal multicolored accents. The result is quite striking; the book has a visual style that bursts with fun and energy.

The illustrations capture many marvelous images: children dancing, a band jamming on a rooftop, a brilliantly lit-up city skyline, a trumpeter lit by streetlight. Duke Ellington is celebrated in the book's poetry: "Duke Ellington-- / King o' the sun. / Cool as a cat, / He's where it's at." "Bring On" is an excellent celebration of American culture.

This is just the best book I have ever seen. I mean this! I am a music teacher in Southern California in the public school system and a student's parent showed it to me. I went on line to order a copy and saw this review option and decided that this was such a fantastic book I had to put in the time to tell people. I hope this gets published. I loved this book because it makes you really see music.....jazz. It sings. I could see the sounds. I showed it to my 5th graders and they had a blast and decided to do a project based on it. They are composing music with pictures to accompany it. What a thrill to have someone create such a book! Jazz is the love of my life and this is just GREAT!

I bought this for my 2 1/2 year old son who loves music. I found myself reading and making music based on the flow of the words. Everytime we read we create different music. This is his favorite relaxtion book. We went to a music feast and he yelled out "Pluck a fat bass. Play me a ace." to the bass player. Who smiled and proceeded to do just that... This is a rich and well written book.