Customer Reviews

Mysterious Thelonious

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The author/illustrator has found a clever way to combine the illustration and text, as if to portray the sound of Thelonious Monk's music. I read this to a third grade music class. The students commented that the words were placed on the page like notes on a music staff. They also noticed that the size of the words changed throughout the book, perhaps suggesting the dynamics in his music. Although the book doesn't share specific factual information about Thelonious Monk, it is fun to read. I would recommend it for all students and music lovers alike. As a music teacher, I really enjoyed this book!

There is nothing Misterioso about Chris Raschka's story about Thelonious Monk, Mysterious Thelonious. Just as there were "no wrong notes on Monk's piano, there are no wrong words in this marvelously creative book by Chris Raschka. Inspiried by the first jazzman to cultivate a goatee and by Monk's composition, 'Misterioso', Raschka has approached this picture-book from a right angle, similar to how Monk titled his head as he 'crushed' out his muisc on the piano. Words, music, and color run up-and-down the pages like Monk's enormous hands, hitting al 12 keys at once. Young readers will enjoy the challenge of trying to decode the phonetic-like presentation of words that reverberate page-by-page across colorful grids reminiscent of a Paul Klee drawing. Seasoned jazz lovers (like me) will marvel at how Raschka has caught the musical magic of Thelonious Sphere Monk as he might have 'sounded with words and a brush' jamming with Charlie (Yardbird) Parker at Minton's Playhouse (New York) in 1937. I have used this book many times to show teachers the power of interactive read-alouds to create higher levels of understanding. With black shades on and Monk's music playing in the background, children delight in a unique demonstration of how language, art, color, and hyphenated text work together to tell a wonderful story about the music of freedom....Jazz. Tr- ue to h- is rep- u- tation, Ra- sch- ka u- ses o- nly a fe- w w- ords, b- ut s- ays a lo- t!

I was skeptical about this when I picked it up from the library. My 6 and 3 year olds absolutely loved it. The way the words were scattered over the page made it impossible not to read it rhythmically! We read it months ago, and still, every time someone says the word "mysterious," they start chanting the words of the book. Raschka has done it again!

Chris Raschka is the absolute master of high-concept. His abstract conceptions would seema perfect match for the perfect dissonance of Thenonious Monk, another artist who mastered the abstract and the unconventional...who merged sound and sight in his own iconoclastic fashion. One of Monk's first albums is "Brilliant Corners," and you can hear those cuts and angles throughout.

Raschka is brilliant in his imaginative construction of this CD/book combination, but the dilemma is whether this is a book for kids or adults. It's so mathematical, richly visual, and simultaneously linear and non-linear that it's a challenging read at almost every age.

Here's the concept: Arrange adjoining squares that cover the page from toip to bottom, and left to right...like a checkerboard. IN the vertical dimension (i.e., down the page from top to bottom) the boxes represent the eight descending notes (do, re, me, anyone?) of the Western scale, and scanning from left to right is how we read both books and music. Raschka made up a very Monkian (to my mind) lyric to the tune "Mysterioso," and places each word in a square that follows the music, both vertically (do, re, mi), and horizontally--following the melody of the song. As they say, it's easy once you learn it.

FOrtunately, Mr. Raschka is a kind teacher, and he includes the singing of his lyric on the CD. ONe follows the song, matching the words and their high/low sound to the words spread higher and low, left to right, on the page. The first track is done very slowly, mkaing it fairly easy to follow (after a few tries); the second time matches the actual tempo of the "Mysterioso" excerpt. Raschka also includes some introductory personal observations about jazz, and then wraps it up with a full live recording of Monk in the late 50's. If you don't like Monk, you;'re not going to like this book.

But, let's say you do like Monk...or perhaps you've never heard of him but you're an adventurous soul. I think you'er going to love this book, and especially the music, if you have an open mind, have liked some very original music in the past, and love modern art. That's if you;re an adult, reading to yourself.

If you're reading to a kid, I have a few suggestions to maximize their comprehension, and, more importantly, their enjoyment. I hope I don't sound patronizing; I know that YOU know your child and I don't--but take five and see what you thinik. If you love this book, but think your age 3 to 11 (approximately) audience won't understand it, at least communicate your enthusiasm. Attitude over content! Perhpas if the child is a little older, or has some real proclivities towards abstract thinking, patiently, slowly, show how Raschka has matched words to music in two dimensions. If the child is younger, perhaps point out the little pictures of Monk and other squaranalia placed on the page, enjoy the colors, sing along with the record, make your own pattern of colored squares, and just...as they say...IMPROVISE. That's what Monk did.

One wouldn't think it possible, but Raschka has recreated Monk's "Misterioso" into a beautiful synthesis of color and word by matching the 12 musical notes of the chromatic scale to the 12 values of the color wheel, and repeating word phrases with slight variations, as with Monk's playing.

Well, as a Monk fan, I had to snatch this up from my library for-sale rack for $1, and as I was reading it, I was very pleased with myself when I realized that the book is meant to be read to the tune of "Mysterioso." The arrangement of the words on the page correspond directly with the melody. I think whenever I have a child, I will sing this book to her.

2 and a half years later... I read/sang this to my 22 month-old son last night, and he made me read it 3 more times. It probably helps if your kid likes Thelonious Monk and you can sing the tune (a bit of a challenge a capella, especially bars 9 and 10).

As summarized above, this is one of the most amazing books I've ever read. By no means is it "just for kids"--this book is revolutionary, in the same way and to the same degree that "Ulysses" was. Highest praise possible.

Bought this for my daughter at the age of 4. We love how this book flows with the high and lows. It is a little outside the norm for a children's book as seen in the negative reviews so if you are afraid to try new things or experiment then do not get this book. I highly recommend this to parents who can think outside the box.

Not nearly as musical and fluid as other raschka books (e.g., charlie parker played be bop is fantastic...). this book misses the mark, with a curious layout of the text. a definite dud.

I don't know how the previous reviewers used this book, but this was a book my 4-year-old chose to check out of the library to read before going to bed. We go every week. She picks books that look good to her and pile them on a chair to take out. I am certain she was drawn to the color of this book as anyone would be. But boy did this book strike a wrong chord with me, corny pun intended.

I started reading it to her and by the end I had to apologize to her for wasting our time when we could have read something that made sense. I understand the INTENT was to have a book about a jazz virtuoso that followed color value and musical notes, etc. But this does not succeed. The result is a book with words broken down in syllables seemingly scattered all over the page which would be fine if:
1 - the words WEREN'T in hard-to-read cursive
2 - the words were in some sort of easy-to-follow order
3 - the writer/publisher didn't assume that everyone could read musically

I showed this to 4 co-workers to make sure it wasn't just me. They were a mix of parents and single, writers and nonwriters and every one of them stepped back upon looking at the first page. "They aren't ALL going to look like this are they?" Oh yes, my friend. They do.

I have never been so annoyed by a book before! Did the author and publisher think about the kids who were learning to read? The parents who would be reading to them? I must have sounded like I just started hooked on phonics myself!

The mystery here is figuring out how to overcome the instinct to read left to right in order to read the blasted thing and I could MAYBE forgive that. But you don't even walk away with a real lesson about Thelonious Monk to make it all worth while.

I didn't even want to give it the one star I gave it but that star would be for visual interest. We love color and THAT it has in spades. Nothing else.