John Coltrane's Giant Steps

I have never read another book like this. He uses symbols to play music all over the pages. Very unique! Raschka uses great creativity in composing the "music" in this book. It would be fun to either create music or use the song Coltrane when reading this book. Or, students could make their own art......more

What a heady book, man. It could be interesting to read this book to kids and have them listen Giant Steps, and then read the book again to see if kids felt differently. Or I would be really curious to see this in an ASL Storytime setting. Also if Wynton Marsalis could read this I would appreciate t......more

Jazz represented on the page and broken down for very young readers. I read the book without the original accompanying CD of the Coltrane composition "Giant Steps", but it was still fresh and engaging.......more

As one of my students said, "this books makes no sense." I get the whole trying to be artsy-fartsy and write and illustrate a book about jazz, but seriously?! I like jazz and don't see the connection to the ending of this picture book.......more

Review found on The Lemon Librarian. Score:   out 5 lemons This picture book may be lost on me. Chris Raschka‘s lively illustrations bring John Coltrane’s unique jazz style to life using a box, a snowflake, some snowflakes, and a kitten. Each character represents a specific element of music, such as t......more