Once Upon a Time in Chicago

Rating:
Summary: It tickled my licorice stick
Review: I bought this for my 8 year old niece. She is learning the clarinet and enjoying swing music both old and new. In fact, when she heard Goodman's trademark signoff song, "Goodbye" she nearly choked up with emotion.

"That's so sad," she said. "That's so beautiful."

And she loved the book. Mr. Winter's terse prose provides depth for young readers. And the illustrations are pure Jeannette Winter - whose work I have often seen and which has never disappointed.

Children need not be musicians to enjoy this. If you want them exposed to the best of 20th-century pop culture (and one of today's best juvenile writers,) get this book.

Rating:
Summary: It tickled my licorice stick
Review: I bought this for my 8 year old niece. She is learning the clarinet and enjoying swing music both old and new. In fact, when she heard Goodman's trademark signoff song, "Goodbye" she nearly choked up with emotion.

"That's so sad," she said. "That's so beautiful."

And she loved the book. Mr. Winter's terse prose provides depth for young readers. And the illustrations are pure Jeannette Winter - whose work I have often seen and which has never disappointed.

Children need not be musicians to enjoy this. If you want them exposed to the best of 20th-century pop culture (and one of today's best juvenile writers,) get this book.

Rating:
Summary: Picturebook coverage of Goodman's evolution as a player
Review: Jonah Winter's Once Upon A Time In Chicago (0-7868-2404-2) covers the life of musician Benny Goodman. Jeanette Winter provides the color drawings for a picturebook coverage of jazz music history in general and Goodman's evolution as a player in particular.