Please welcome my guest author, Alice Faye Duncan with her picture book list on blues and jazz music! We are giving away five signed copies of Yellow Dog Blues. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter at the bottom.
7 Picture Books About Blues Music & All That Jazz
Blues Journey by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers
Rendered as a collection of blues lyrics, the book takes readers on a journey across American history from the Civil War to the mid-20th century. The sights and sounds will move readers to sing these poems—often. [advanced picture book, ages 10 and up]
Mama Don’t Allow by Thacher Hurd
This book is about good times! Miles and the Alligator Swamp Band sing to the tune of John Lee Hooker’s famous song—Boogie Chillen. Kids won’t stop dancing, singing, and basking in the power of music and a good book! [picture book, ages 4 and up]
Double Bass Blues by Andrea J. Loney, illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez
Blues music is the sound and spirit of perseverance. This story is all of that and more. A young bass player must overcome the hurdles of finding his sound and his place in the world. The text and illustrations will dazzle and mesmerize like a Romare Bearden painting. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters by Michael Mahin, illustrated by Evan Turk
This is a kid’s introduction to the indomitable Muddy Waters and his good-time music. Readers will be inspired as they encounter an orphaned child who did not give up on his musical ambitions. The writing is lyrical and the illustrations are glorious. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
Yellow Dog Blues by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by Chris Raschka
Here is a story of love, loss, and liberty. Bo Willie loves his Yellow Dog. However, the boy suffers loss when the dog runs away to play blues music on fancy Beale Street. As the hound settles into his new home, Bo Willie learns that happiness is often learning to live and let go. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
One more great picture book about jazz…
The Edelweiss Pirates by Jennifer Elvgren, illustrated by Daniela Stamatiadi
By 1938, open anti-Semitism became increasingly accepted throughout Germany, including in public schools. Portraits of Adolf Hitler hung in all classrooms. Students saluted Hitler at the start of school. They read books and played games that made fun of Jews. Teachers and students verbally and physically punished Jewish students.
In 1938, jazz music was forbidden in Germany and the Hitler Youth Patrol will harm anyone breaking the rules. Albert and his friends are part of the Edelweiss Pirates, a group of young people who play jazz and find other ways to defy the Nazis. Albert’s younger brother, Kurt, wants to join the Edelweiss Pirates but his brother thinks that he is too young. Kurt’s friend, Albert, is tormented at school for being Jewish. In an act of defiance, Kurt plays jazz on his trumpet at the school band concert. The Edelweiss Pirates join in. The Edelweiss Pirates were a group of more than 5,000 young dissenters in western Germany. [picture book, ages 8 and up]
In 2005, Germany officially recognized the Edelweiss Pirates as a resistance group, a tribute to those young people who dared to stand up to Nazi tyranny.
5 Signed Copies of Yellow Dog Blues GIVEAWAY!
We are giving away five signed copies of Yellow Dog Blues. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter below. We can only mail to U.S. and A.F.O. addresses.
Alice Faye Duncan is a National Board Educator who writes for young learners. Her newest books include Yellow Dog Blues (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers), Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth (Thomas Nelson), and Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote (Calkins Creek), which is a Junior Library Guild selection. You can find more Alice Faye Duncan books at her website, www.alicefayeduncan.com.
p.s. Related posts:
African-American Female Musicians Picture Books
A Picture Book Unit to Connect Kids to Jazz
Children’s Books Showcasing Black Achievement
Celebrating Musicians in Picture Books
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My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court
- ALSC Notable Children’s Book
- Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
- California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book
- Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
- Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- ⭐ Starred review from School Library Journal!
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- dPICTUS 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Nautilus Silver Winner, Nonfiction Children’s Picture Book
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Bank Street College’s The Best Children’s Books of the Year
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
My favorite is Sweet Music in Harlem by Debbie Taylor.
Thanks for the chance to win!
I love this line in the Kirkus review of Yellow Dog Blues, “Like listening to a blues record while wrapped up in a homemade quilt sipping sweet tea.”
Thanks for the chance to win a book
Such a great list & I’m so happy to learn more about Yellow Dog Blues. Definitely a book I want to add to my new grandson’s library!
I am interested in this collection of Alice Faye’s most recent collection; however, I am more thrilled by the thought of owning copies of Opal Lee and Evicted! The synopses of these two books so reminds me of the stories my mother talked to me about when she lived in Fayette County, TN. I am proud of this writer and her accomplishments!👏
Yellow Dog Blues is a fave of mine.
Yellow Dog Blues!!! Amazing!! Beautiful ✨️ 😍 thanks!