Sneak Peek Review of Children's Jazz-Themed Book Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band

This is a sneak peek review of the children's jazz-themed book called Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band. It is authored by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Tim Bowers, and is published by Sleeping Bear Press. I was provided a copy of this children's book for review by the publisher, but was under no obligation to recommend it. My observations are my own.

Synopsis of the Children's Jazz-Themed Book Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band

A farmer is holding a talent show that will seek to honor the best band, but the bass guitar-playing Acoustic Rooster is without bandmates. He sets out to find some more animals who have musical talents in voice and instrument play according to the farmer's rules. The rooster finds some who know how to play a piano, percussion instruments, and horns along the way. These creatures of Mother Nature have names based on famous jazz performers from Ella Fitzgerald to Thelonious Monk. But in the end, the main character finds that winning a competition isn't the all and end all. At the end of the book is some valuable information on various aspects of jazz, including a historical timeline, terminology, and several brief summaries of famous jazz performers.

Alexander uses an interesting concept to tell his nicely-paced story, as each one to two page spread uses four line poetic stanzas with rhyming (or close to rhyming) second and fourth lines. The illustrations by Bowers are very colorful and nicely-detailed, making for an entertaining and educational read for children; and thus, I recommend this jazz-themed children's book which is able to bridge the American creation of jazz with farmlife.

This title is scheduled to be available at retail outlets like Amazon.com on September 1, 2011, and its Suggested Retail Price is $15.95. The ISBN Number for Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band is 1-58536-688-9.

For more information on the publisher, Sleeping Bear Press, contact 315 Eisenhower Parkway, Suite 200, Ann Arbor, MI 48108. Phone 800-487-2323. Email: sleepingbearpress@cengage.com Website here