Book Description
for Mysterious Thelonious by Chris Raschka
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Rachka's tribute to jazz musician Thelonius Monk is small in physical size (7 3/8 x 6 1/2") and large in concept. Using a complex concept paralleling the color wheel to music notes on the scale, Raschka develops a poem in which Raschka's unique musical composition can be seen and the impact of "Mister Monk's" music "of freedom" can be experienced. "There were no wrong notes on his piano." Not one. Rainbow colors, square shapes and a handwritten text are fully integrated with each other in this incomparable little volume. Raschka's books Charlie Parker Played Be Bop (Orchard, 1992) and Simple Gifts (Henry Holt, 1998) also show his interest in communicating visually in books for the young about music. (Age 7-adult)
CCBC Choices 1997. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1997. Used with permission.