John Coltrane's Giant Steps (Richard Jackson Books (Atheneum Hardcover)) | 
|  | | | Title: | John Coltrane's Giant Steps (Richard Jackson Books (Atheneum Hardcover)) | | Author: | Chris Raschka (Illustrator) | | Publisher: | Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books | | Type: | Book / Hardcover | | Publication Date: | 01 July, 2002 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0689845987 / 9780689845987 | | List Price: | $17.99 | | You Save: | $5.76 | | Amazon Price: | $12.23 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
You may be surprisedat the tricky music a box, a snowflake, some raindrops, and a kitten can make. Right before your eyes. And on the pages of this book. There is someone backstage watching, encouraging our performers but keeping them under control. Why not listen along?
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Customer Reviews:
• Small Steps... 21 July, 2005
Chris Raschka has to be one of my favorite illustrators. Charlie Parker Played Be Bop, Yo! Yes?, a Caldecott Honoree, and Arlene Sardine are some of my favorite picture books of all time. But when I picked up John Coltrane's Giant Steps, things changed. Yes, Giant Steps is creative. Yes, it's gutsy. But on paper, 'Steps' falls flat on it's artsy face.
The first pages of Giant Steps introduce us to 'a box, a snowflake, some raindrops, and a kitten', our performers. We are then told (while the 'performers are limbering up') about the Giant Steps' composer, a man by the name of John Coltrane. Afterwards the box, the snowflake, the raindrops, and the kitten begin their strange dance, blending their differing colors in 'harmony'. The performers carry on with their dance, by now leaving the young readers either confused or annoyed. Then the dance suddenly stops, and the narrorator corrects our dancers on their various mistakes. And then the dance begins again! *Sighs*
I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that ninety-nine percent of children will not enjoy this book. The one percent (if that many) that will, have already heard of John Coltrane and his Giant Steps. The other ninety-nine, like I said before, will probably hate it, like I, myself did. Even Chris Raschka's paintings do little to distract the viewer from this terrible book! I'll admit that Giant Steps had a beautiful and creative premise, but it sadly falls into the cliche of 'Just because it sounds good, doesn't mean it'll look good on paper!'
R, your friendly neighborhood reviewer.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2ODF4T1AAN83E
• John Coltrane's Giant Steps Is A Good Book! 28 November, 2005
We really liked reading John Coltrane's Giant Steps. We want to read it again and again. The pictures look very cool. We like the way that the illustrator created all the shapes like the box, the snowflake, and the raindrops. We also like the words that the author uses to describe the music.
Our favorite part was when the director tells the shapes and the kitten what they did wrong. Listening to the music really helped us understand the book. Some of us wish that the author had given us the cd with the book. Others of us think it was great the way it was!
Chris Raschka writes good books!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3MQE1X84V77SH
• Does No Justice To Coltrane 14 January, 2008
I was terribly disappointed by this children's book. The problem I have with it is that it is way too abstract for a young mind to grasp. The author tries to make it simple with his illustrations and choice of representations of instruments but I don't think it works . The cat, raindrops, box and snowflake are not interesting.I think this book would only confuse a young student. His sheets of color as sheets of sound do not work. Interesting concept but I don't care for it, especially as a teaching tool for young students. A great jazz musician like Trane deserves better, richer colors, deeper meaning and in general, a better children's book.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AO4A961ZKHJPL
• Excellent 12 August, 2008
I enjoyed reading the book and I think the drawings and the writing are excellent. It was very inspiring to me. No adults had influence on me reading this book. I read it at an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. I particularly like how they start to do something in the book and stop it and then start again. I would like to know the song. A lot of reviewers say it would not be for children but I am saying that lots of children might like it if they would just sit down and read it. I remember the book much better than my aunt and she admits it. I am 9 years old and my aunt, who signed in to Amazon, is typing this for me.
- Reviewed by customer ID:
• Ambitious, Interesting, And Imaginative, But Perhaps Best For Adults Or Kids Guided By Them 25 July, 2006
Chris Raschka is one of our most ambitious children's book illustrators. When he's good, he's great, and he wins the Caldecott Award for best children's illustration. When he tries too hard, he's sly but opaque, clever but obscure. "Waffle," for example, plays with concept at the expense of clarity, and the result is a disappointing mish-mosh. This book is on the heady side, but musically-inclined youngsters guided by a talented teacher, parent, or other adult will enjoy's Raschka's imaginative deconstruction/reconstruction of Coltrane's magnificent jazz piece.
Raschka almost nails it with this visual and verbal description of saxophonist John Coltrane's incredible "Giant Steps," a landmark number of dizzying complexity, speed, and joy that most energetic younsters would like on its own. However, much of the appeal lies in a very intellectual exercise requiring levels of abstract thinking and reading ability beyond most of the young audience who will be attracted to the picture book format. However, teenagers, pre-adolescents with a musical bent, and adults will appreciate Raschka sensitive evaluation of Coltrane's talent. Younger kids might like the colorful (although not vividly colorful) pictures, and the pictures of the raindrops, snowflake, and cat. However, these by themselves are not that appealing, and the song's "narration" is clever but not a very interesting story. That is why the book doesn't quite work for early elementary school-age kids reading it on their own.
The most fascinating aspect of Raschka's "Giant Steps" is that he purposely draws the song all wrong! The book disappoints, and then tricks us, because Raschka knows exactly what he was doing. The cat narrator leads the shapes and colors in a visual performance of Coltrane's number, but the impression is, well, unimpressive. Even for a metaphor of Coltrane's music, the colors look blurry and the composition are unfocused.
However, at a break in the performance (on pages 24 and 25), Raschka gently tells us that the preceeding images (by Raschka) were not quite right, were not Coltrane. The "performers" (and the reader) must understand that Coltrane was strong, yes, but "strong yet light." The colors should be rich, not "muddy," because "Coltrane's music is dense but transparent." And while Coltrane did blow "a fountain of notes, a shower of notes...those notes made lines that were dynamic and strong and vivid." In a remarkable performace of his own,. Raschka redraws the musical sequence to reflect these attributes, and this time he captures the rhythms, sounds, and energetic clarity of Coltrane. It's a masterful achievement, but I don't know how many kids will appreciate it. A dazzling, albeit puzzling, work that stands, as Ellington once said, "beyond category."
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1SYLII0808HD6
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