Jazz Baby

Jazz Baby

by Lisa Wheeler
Illustration by R. Gregory Christie

With a simple clap of hands, an itty-bitty beboppin' baby gets his whole family singing and dancing. Sister's hands snap. Granny sings scat. Uncle soft-shoes--and Baby keeps the groove. Things start to wind down when Mama and Daddy sing blues so sweet. Now a perfectly drowsy baby sleeps deep, deep, "deep."

Let your little one boogy down to bed with "Jazz Baby", a Capitol Choice Noteworthy Book for Children and a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. The story is basically a song, with a fun font that changes size and color as it dances up, down, and around the page, singing right alongside you. The rhyming and repetition helps readers learn the song quickly, so they can join in the fun sound-effect words. The pictures focus on the malleable characters, outlined in bold and wearing brightly colored clothing, as they dance and be-bop across the pages with Baby.

As your read, you'll find yourself clapping, tapping, toot-tooting, and rat-tat-tatting . Encourage your child to join in the fun and dance with the characters, making the noises from the book or even creating some of their own. Can they feel the jazz? The story shows how anyone can join in and be musical, "Brother's Hands snap, Sister's hands tap, Itty-bitty baby's hands CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!" There may be a few new musical words for your little one to learn, such as "be-bop" or "scat".

My three-year old friend Sam thought it was hilarious when I danced around clapping and tapping with the book. I tried to get him to join in, but he was more content laughing at me. I know he hears the beat of the song in his head however, as he often starts tapping on his leg and bopping his head while I'm reading.

--Audra