This book is a biography of the life of Dizzy Gillespie and the troubles he faced in growing up and finding solace in his music and playing the horn. It has very colorful ilustrations and onomotopoeias throught the book to entertain young kids. ( )

Dizzy is a kid who was very poor. He was constantly being teased and bullied by other kids and pretended that it didn't bother him. Dizzy was even being abused by his father and soon became a mad kid fighting and beating up on any and everyone until one day his teacher gave him a trumpet. Dizzy blew all of his anger inside of that instrument and afterwards felt pretty good.In a town where caucasians looked down on blacks, Dizzy soon realized that he need to leave town with his trumpet being his ticket out. He enjoyed playing jazz music because he could break the rules and go off script he wanted to. Dizzy was so good that he used jazz music to express himself in the craziest ways. Falling out of chairs, playing other band members instruments while simultaneously blowing his horn and playing practical jokes on various folks. Dizzy knew that his ways would get him fired from his band but he was dedicated to staying true to himself. Dizzy did get fired but it never deterred him from teaching others the uniqueness that can be imprinted on jazz music and if you don't stand up for what you believe than you'll fall into the hands of society. ( )

Critique:
This is a biography of Dizzy Gillespie who had contributions to jazz music. It introduces how his childhood was and how he decided to play such remarkable jazz music without imitating others. The colors used in the book creates a colorful and imaginable world for readers, which conveys the feelings of jazz music produced by Dizzy which is abstract in reality.
Age appropriate:
Primary school students ( )

Winter recounts the story of Dizzy Gillespie, a famous trumpet player. From a young age, he is an angry boy who gets in a lot of trouble, and then learns how to play the trumpet as a release. He becomes very successful and goes from playing at dance clubs to inventing his own genre of jazz, bebop.

Age Appropriateness (Primary, Intermediate, Middle School): Intermediate
Review/Critique: This book is about the musician Dizzy Gillespie who was a really great jazz musician. Dizzy played the trumpet and was extremely talented. He used his instrument to help change things in his community and make a difference in the jazz world.
Comments on Use: I would use this book to explain how history can look and be written differently, I would also use this to help demonstrate different genres.