Sonny's Bridge

Jazz Legend Sonny Rollins
Finds His Groove

Charlesbridge
(pub. 5.21.2019) 
 40 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor:  Barry Wittenstein
and illustrator:  Keith Mallett

 
C haracter: Sonny Rollins

O verview: 

     "Sonny Rollins started playing the sax as a kid in Harlem in New York City. He rocketed to the top of the jazz world. Imagine the pressure.
     So he stopped playing professionally. Took a step  back. Turns out he wasn't sure he was worthy of all that fame.
     Practicing at home disturbed  his neighbors. So you know what he did? He went up on the Williamsburg Bridge. He and Henrietta - his saxophone - played there every day, rain or shine. For more than two years!
     Sonny thought about who he was and what he wanted. Took some of the pressure off. Then he decided he was ready to go back to the recording studio.
     The results? Sonny made one of his best-selling albums, The Bridge. Turned out that Sonny's time on the bridge to think things through solidified Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins's place in jazz history."

T antalizing taste: 
      
      "Misty night.
      Summer night.
      East River New York City night.
      You hear that? 
           Hear what? 
      That. THAT!
           Somebody's playing the saxophone. So what?
      So that's Sonny Rollins, that's what."

And something more: In his Author's Note in SONNY'S BRIDGE, Barry Wittenstein writes: "I have a confession to make. For me, jazz was an  acquired taste ... I even ventured into the music business as a nonperforming songwriter. My only cut that ever got airplay was a pop/jazz song by a singer signed to GRP Records, a jazz label. So, maybe jazz resonated with me more than I'd suspected.
     Now, after a lifetime, the image of Sonny Rollins playing sax on a New York City bridge is one that still tugs at my heart."

Strong As Sandow

How Eugen Sandow
Became the Strongest
Man on Earth 

Charlesbridge

(pub. 8.22.2017)
40 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor 
    and illustrator: Don Tate

C haracter: Eugen Sandow

O verview from the jacket flap: 

     "As a boy, Eugen Sandow was sickly and weak. But his spirit was strong. Through exercise and healthy living, he built himself up to be one of the strongest men on earth.
     Sampson and Cyclops were also strong. The brawny brutes flexed their mighty muscles, lifted heavy weights, and hoisted horses and elephants like they were feathers.
     Who would dare try to defeat them in a contest of strength?...
     Ezra Jack Keats Book Award winner Don Tate tells the larger-than-life story of Eugen Sandow, the father of modern-day bodybuilding and a champion of healthy living for all.

T antalizing taste: 
      

     "Strong and Stronger
     Prussia to Belgium 1885?-1887
     One day a traveling circus rolled into town. Friedrich [his name before he changed it to Eugen] snuck away from school to watch. He was starstruck by the performers - tumblers, wrestlers, acrobats, strongmen. The lure was simply too much to resist. Friedrich left the university and joined the circus. He became an acrobat. 
     Life as an acrobat was physically demanding. Friedrich tumbled and bent and balances. He flipped and flopped and stood on his hands. Soon he began to notice in his body: his muscles wee getting bigger and stronger."

 

and something more: In the Author's Note, Don Tate discusses what drew him to tell the story of Eugen Sandow:  "As a kid, I was skinny. Recognizing my anxiety about it, my dad bought me a bench press and a copy of the The Bodybuilder's Nutrition Book.  It featured nutrition information, along with photos of famous bodybuilders... I dreamed of someday having powerful muscles like them." And then, in his 30s, Don Tate began his "bodybuilding journey" and eventually took and first and second in a contest. And the book includes a photo of Don Tate in 1998 in the Upper Midwest Natural Bodybuilding Championships.
   I was interested to learn that "writing Sandow's story was challenging" for Don Tate because of limited records about Sandow and varied stories about Sandow and his past and accomplishments.  Don Tate explained his goal for the book: "to tell the story as I think Sandow would have wanted it told, fanciful as that might be. Regardless of his true origins (and a few less-than-admirable things I learned about him) the story of Eugen Sandow is an important one. His tale of sickly kid turned physical-fitness guru and self-made businessman inspired millions of people... [He showed] how a healthy body is necessary for a healthy mind. His lesson rings true today."

Emily and Carlo

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday

hosted today at Sally's Bookshelf

and joins It's Monday!

What are you reading?

at Teacher Mentor Texts

Charlesbridge Publishing 

(pub. 2.1.2012) 32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Marty Rhodes Figley

     and Illustrator: Catherine Stock

C haracter: Emily Dickinson

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "They made a strange pair: one giant dog and one slight girl.

       When most people think of Emily Dickinson, they picture a thin, sad-looking woman dressed in white, living alone in a big house, scribbling poems on scraps of paper.

       But Emily was not alone. Her dog, Carlo -a large, floppy, drooly Newfoundland - was her constant companion, her 'shaggy ally' in the world. Together Emily and Carlo explored the woods and town around them, visiting friends and enjoying each other's company.

       Marty Rhodes Figley's lyrical text and Catherine Stock's luminous art create a fresh look at this well-known, but seldom understood, American poet."

T antalizing taste: 

       "Emily shared her hopes, her dreams - her poetry.

        Carlo listened, as a good friend should.

        'I talk of all these things with Carlo, and his eyes grow

         meaning, and his shaggy feet keep a slower pace.'"

                       

and something more: The author, Mary Rhodes Figley, of Emily and Carlo is quite the Emily Dickinson scholar. She is a member of the Emily Dickinson International Society, and her academic paper on Emily and Carlo was published in The Emily Dickinson Journal.  And, as a Frances Perkins Scholar at Mount Holyoke College, Figley took a class about Emily at the Emily Dickinson Homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts. 

             I particularly liked Figley's personal connection to this story, as she explained in the Author's Note: "After my Emily Dickinson class was finished, I volunteered next door at the Evergreens [Emily's brother's house] for a semester. When I walked down the path between the two houses, I could imagine Carlo chasing squirrels or being ordered off the porch by Emily's sister, Vinnie. He must have been a hard dog to ignore but an easy dog for Emily to love." Her description reminds me of my sweet lovable black Lab who sits by my feet while I write, and often nudges me with a wet nose when it's time to go for a walk.

Monet Paints A Day

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday hosted today by
100 Scope Notes

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at Teacher Mentor Texts

Charlesbridge

(pub. 7.1.2012) 48 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Julie Danneberg

     and Illustrator: Caitlin Heimerl

C haracter: Claude Monet

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "Claude Monet lugs his half-finished painting and supplies to the beach. Massive white cliffs tower over him. Waves gently lap the sand under his feet. And winter sunlight illuminates the giant stone arch - the Manneporte - standing before him. Monet takes it in. Then, armed with canvases, paints, and brushes, he paints a day. Engrossed in his work, he forgets to watch the tide ...

       Based on a true incident, Monet Paints a Day introduces readers to the Impressionist artist Claude Monet. Lush watercolor illustrations in the Impressionist style show the painter both in his element and struggling against it."

        

T antalizing taste: 

"Quickly I ...

ruffle my paintbrush against the canvas as jade waters

ruffle against the shore's edge ...

drag paint across the canvas as retreating waves

drag silver sand into the ocean...

flutter and dab my brush at the canvas as the sea foam

flutters briefly above the surf and disappears."

                       

and something more: In the Author's Note, Julie Danneberg explains the style of writing and focus she chose for Monet Paints A Day: "I intended the story to read in much the same way as one might view Monet's Impressionist paintings. Although you don't see all the details of Monet's life and art in this story, you certainly get a sense of how single-minded and focused Monet was when he worked. He spent a lifetime trying to capture on canvas the beauty of nature, of light, of air, and of water." And I think the lovely watercolor illustrations by RISD grad, Caitlin Heimerl, perfectly reflect Monet's focus on the "beauty of nature, of light, of air, and of water." 

Vivaldi's Four Seasons

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today by Practically Paradise

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at Teacher Mentor Texts

Charlesbridge

(pub. 7.1.12) 48 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Anna Harwell Celenza

     and Illustrator:  JoAnn E. Kitchel

C haracter: Antonio Vivaldi

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "In eighteenth-century Venice, Italy, the city is afloat with music. The finest performances are heard at an orphanage called the Ospedale della Pieta. Hidden from the audience behind a screen, an orchestra consisting of young orphan girls dazzles devoted fans.

      Encouraged by the imagination of their music teacher Antonio Vivaldi, the girls ind stories and characters in each composition they play. But the governors of the orphanage frown upon Vivaldi's fanciful ways.

     When Vivaldi and his students are separated, the musician is inspired to compose a set of concertos that mark the passing of time - the great baroque masterpiece entitled The Four Seasons. With the help of Anna Maria, the oldest girl, the young musicians find the courage to bring Vivaldi's musical stories to life on their own in this heartwarming story of friendship, imagination, and the transformative power of music."

        

T antalizing taste: 

     "Vivaldi became an international success.

     Still, something was missing: the rainstorms of the

Venetian spring, the buzzing bees of summer, the sweet

apples of autumn, and the frozen canals of winter.

With each passing season Vivaldi missed Venice more.

Most of all he missed his young friends at the Pieta."

          

and something more: I was fascinated to learn that Antonio Vivaldi, known as "Il Prete Rosso," was a priest who taught music to orphaned and abandoned girls, some with physical disabilities and illnesses, during his early career. How I wish I could have heard those orphan girls perform beautiful baroque music in Venice's St. Mark's Basilica. However, I savored listening to the CD (included in the book) of the Venice Baroque Orchestra's wonderful performance of The Four Seasons. 

     In the Author's Note of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Georgetown University professor of music Anna Harwell Celenza explains that when Vivaldi's "concertos were finally published in 1725, four explanatory sonnets accompanied them. According to Vivaldi, these sonnets [set forth in the back of the book] were written after the music was composed. I like to think that he might have created them with the girls at the Pieta in mind." I think so, too!