Resources for Children: Jazz & Blues

Another list for you! There are some real gems here.  Lots of interesting stories and great illustrations.  Make sure you listen to the music, too, and really get to know the music and the musicians.  Let me know what I’ve missed—this is an ongoing project, and it is always exciting to find new titles.

Armstrong by Claude Nougaro and Maurice Vander, illustrated by Chris Raschka









Before John was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane by Carole Boston Weather









Ben’s Trumpet by Rachel Isadora


Blues Journey by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers







Bring on That Beat by Rachel Isadora









Charlie Parker Played Be-Bop by Chris Raschka









Dizzy by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Sean Quallis









Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra by Andrea Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney








Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney








Hip Cat by Jonathan London









If I Only Had a Horn: Young Louis Armstrong by Roxanne Orgill









Jazz by Walter Dean Myers









Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits by Wynton Marsalis, illustrated by Paul Rogers







Jazz on a Saturday Night by Leo & Diane Dillon









The Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub







John Coltrane’s Giant Steps by Chris Raschka









Mysterious Thelonius by Chris Raschka









Satchmo’s Blues by Alan Schroeder, illustrated by Floyd Cooper









This Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt, pictures by R. G. Roth