When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat

Weinstein, Muriel Harris. 2008. When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.

Quick summary of this one...a girl listens (along with her mother) to Louis Armstrong on the radio and becomes interested in scat. That night in bed, she imagines having a private scat lesson (or should that be session?) with Satchmo himself. This scat session is all about bubble gum in all its gooey wonder.

This leads to some wonderfully rhythmic poetry (I'm only going to quote a bit of it. It goes on much longer than this.):

Rippety wrapper
Glittery new
Pinkety sweet
Stickety chew
Squash-itee
Stretch-itee
Gummity thick
Squooz-itee
Oooz-itee
Blowity quick!
Chew-itee
Chew-itee
Chew-itee
Chop
Crackity
Snappity
Poppity!
Pop!!!

I just loved that. Isn't it great??? There is much to love in this one. Then again, I love Louis Armstrong, so that may prejudice me a little. But I just really really enjoyed this one.

Last year, I simply fell in love with Jazz Baby. I loved, loved, loved the rhythm and the rhymes. It just worked really well. But one of the things I loved most about it were the illustrations. This book, When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat, is illustrated by the same man: the great and wonderful, R. Gregory Christie.

From the publisher:

When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat -- In a CRACKITY-SNAPPITY-POPPITY-POP bubblegum dream, a young girl learns to scat from the master himself, Louis Armstrong! Written in prose and scat with wild and wonderful illustrations by R. Gregory Christie, this joyful tribute is downright contagious. CHEW-ITEE CHEW-ITEE CHEW-ITEE CHOP, CRACKITY SNAPPITY POPPITY POP! A former elementary school teacher, Muriel Harris Weinstein has taught children's poetry, prose, and playwriting at the United Nations School and the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. She lives in Great Neck, New York. R. Gregory Christie is a three-time recipient of a Coretta Scott King Award in Illustration, and two of his books, Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth and Stars in Darkness, were named New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Illustrator's website.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews