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thediaryofanauthorintraining's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
annie_e_bea's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.0
beecheralyson's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderfully illustrated, Pinkney's look at the life and career of Ella Fitzgerald is fun and comes complete with a scat cat narrator. Brian Pinkney's illustrations compliment the text.
allen_h's review against another edition
3.0
This book tells the basic steps in the career of Ella Fitzgerald. There's not a whole lot about her life other than the stages of her music career. She never knew her dad, and her mom died when she was a teen. Other than that, the rest of the book is about her singing career. She started singing on her own and won the talent contest at the Apollo Theater. Then she sang with Chick Webb's jazz band. Then she sang be-bop with Dizzy Gillespie's band and learned her trademark, scat.
I thought that this book was pretty good. I had heard of Ella Fitzgerald, but I didn't know many of the details of her career. I grew a little tired of the "slam-bamming on the flitter-tip" language of the book.
This would be a good book to connect literature and music. It would also be a nice way to get someone interested in finding more details or researching a subject. It could also be used to discuss race relations, as Ella's fans spanned racial barriers.
I thought that this book was pretty good. I had heard of Ella Fitzgerald, but I didn't know many of the details of her career. I grew a little tired of the "slam-bamming on the flitter-tip" language of the book.
This would be a good book to connect literature and music. It would also be a nice way to get someone interested in finding more details or researching a subject. It could also be used to discuss race relations, as Ella's fans spanned racial barriers.
backonthealex's review against another edition
4.0
Ella Fitzgerald was the Queen of Scat, so it only makes sense that her story should be told by the very hip Scat Cat Monroe, complete with zoot suit and spats. Scat Cat traces Ella's rise to stardom, dividing her story into four record tracks, cut to cut. Track 1, Hoofin' in Harlem, covers career from its beginning at the Apollo Theater's talent contest as scared 17 year-old dancer turned singer.Track 2, Jammin' at Yale, finds Ella a singer with the Chick Webb Orchestra making beautiful music together at Yale. Track 3, Stompin' at the Savoy, Ella and the Chick Webb Orchestra play Harlem's very popular Savoy Ballroom, where Ella sang and dance her heart out and the two made beautiful music together, even defeating the Benny Goodman Orchestra in a Battle of the Bands. Track 4, Carnegie Hall Scat, finds Ella joining the king of bebop Dizzy Gillespie. It didn't take Ella long to make bebop, "jazz on the wild side," all her own. Together, Ella, by now truly the "first Lady of Song," and Dizzy brought bebop to Carnegie Hall. Scat Cat's jazzy narration is reflected in Brian Pinkney's sometimes playful, always vibrantly colored acrylic on scratchboard illustrations really capture all the energy of a jazz track. Jazz is a true African American music genre, and Black History Month is an ideal time to introduce it and its history to young readers. This pairs nicely with the Pinkney's book Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra.
meg_wadlington's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to this, so I had some of Ella's music from different periods playing in the background. That was a huge plus. I did miss out on the illustrations, which I can tell from the cover, are gorgeous. I'm hoping to go take a look at the library a little later on. I learned a lot about EF's musical career and the music of that time period. It was paced well and would be interesting to children.
iamcharlatte's review against another edition
4.0
Good, short audio book for kids that feels more like a podcast than a book.
beecheralyson's review
4.0
Wonderfully illustrated, Pinkney's look at the life and career of Ella Fitzgerald is fun and comes complete with a scat cat narrator. Brian Pinkney's illustrations compliment the text.