Module 5 Hopkins Award Poetry: Jazz

Myers, Walter Dean. 2006. Jazz. Ill. by Christopher Myers. New York: Holiday House, Inc. ISBN-10: 0-8234-1545-7 ISBN-13: 978-0-8234-1545-8

Jazz is a salute to the music, history, and the artists of this wonderful style of music. The fifteen poems and excellent pictures will have you ready to go to New Orleans and participate in some Jazz. Put on some Louis Armstrong or Billie Holliday, turn down the lights and enjoy the music while reading to the rhythms of Jazz that inspired this book of poems. This book will be a welcome addition to your library.

Walter Dean Myers and his son Christopher Myers have once again collaborated with Walter’s poems and Christopher’s pictures in bringing us this informational history of the world of jazz. The book opens with an introduction, which provides the reader with a definition of jazz, what the music is like (melody and rhythm), from where it originated (African and European), and how it has evolved throughout the years to the present. The first poem, Jazz, which is also the title of the book, describes the music, its origin and the ways it has had an impact on the world through gospel, working, victory, defeat, but always through from the heart and soul whatever emotion being felt. Walter Dean Myers brings the different styles of jazz to life, through his poems, with heart and soul showing us ragtime, swing, be-bop, and fusion. Children will love learning about this style of music and will appreciate the rhythms and the beats of the poems. It will encourage them to tap their toes, snap their fingers or maybe learn how to play the trumpet. The poems need to be read after the understanding of where this type of music came from and then you need to listen to the music to fully appreciate the history being told through these poems. The book ends with a timeline of the jazz era from the beginning to the present. Christopher Myers’ pictures truly capture the emotion and feel of these poems. Louie, Louie (pp. 5-6) brought immediate memories of his great trumpet playing and his singing style. The pictures were created by painting black ink on acetate and placing it over acrylic. The fonts are Clarendon Rough and Pablo.

Jazz
Start with rhythm
Start with the heart
Drumming in tongues
Along the Nile
A black man’s drum
Speaks
Love
Start with
the Heart
Work songs
Gospel
Triumph
Despair
Voices
Lifted
From the soul
(Myers, pp. 3-4)

First, I believe it is important to review the introduction that Walter Dean Myers provides at the beginning of the book so students will have a basic understanding of the history that inspired these poems. Listening to some jazz will also prepare the students for feeling the rhythm and beats associated with jazz music. This is an opportunity for teaching about line breaks and why they are placed in a poem. These poems should be read out loud by the librarian modeling line breaks and then students who feel comfortable reading also. The students will be able to feel the rhythm of the poems by using the techniques of line breaks. It might also inspire readers to sing the poems, tap a beat, rap the poem or whatever inspires them.