Picture Book Musician Bios Summer Challenge 2018 Music

Celebrates the 1936 debut of the Benny Goodman quartet with Teddy Wilson in Chicago, considered to be the first widely seen integrated jazz performance.

Ever since she was a young girl, Lil Hardin played music with a beat. She jammed at home, at church, and even at her first job in a music store. At a time when women's only place in jazz was at the microphone, Lil earned a spot playing piano in Chicago's hottest band.

Introduces the musical style of jazz known as be bop as played by legendary African-American saxophonist Charlie Parker.

After arriving in New York, John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was soon playing with the famous Cab Calloway Band, but his clowning around got him fired. Dizzy kept trying out his new music which took over the world of jazz. He had invented "bebop!"

Presents information about Ella Fitzgerald, from her youth mired in tragedy to her rise to stardom as one of the top jazz singers of all time.

Juan Garcia Esquivel was born in Mexico and grew up to the sounds of mariachi bands. He loved music and became a musical explorer. Defying convention, he created music that made people laugh and planted images in their minds. Juan's space-age lounge music popular in the fifties and sixties has found a new generation of listeners.

Bob Dylan's classic 1974 anthem Forever Young is reimagined by award-willing illustrator Rogers. In this picture book, the lyrics follow the story of a young boy who travels through Dylan's life, living in the footsteps of a musical legend.

From Caldecott Honor winner Christian Robinson and acclaimed author Renee Watson, comes the inspiring true story of Florence Mills.
Born to parents who were both former slaves, Florence Mills knew at an early age that she loved to sing, and that her sweet, bird-like voice, resonated with those who heard her. Performing catapulted her all the way to the stages of 1920s Broadway where she inspired everyone from songwriters to playwrights....

Relates how the famous jazz trumpeter began his musical career, as a poor boy in New Orleans, by singing songs on street corners and playing a battered cornet in a marching band.