What’s one of the best ways to make a jazz fan for life? Start early. The books listed below can help, and they’re just 10 out of many excellent jazz-related children’s books that have been published in the past quarter-century or so. No rankings here, as these titles aren’t all meant for the same age group—although kids from preschool to middle school and beyond are likely to get a kick out of each one.
Birth of the Cool by Kathleen Cornell Berman (illustrated by Keith Henry Brown) - Page Street Kids, 2019
Reading—or being read—the story of these adorable computer-illustrated bugs and their quest for nightclub glory introduces youngsters to several important concepts: improvisation, the power of being part of a band, and the notion of music as a language (or, indeed, many languages).
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Mick Carlon: Riding on Duke’s Train (Leapfrog Press, 2011)
Roxane Orgill and Leonard Jenkins (illustrator): If I Only Had a Horn: Young Louis Armstrong (HMH Books for Young Readers, 2002)
Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney: Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra (Hyperion, 1998)
