Many jazz books for young readers understandably focus on the music's biggest names. However, that approach tends to narrowcast biographies to jazz's A-list. Unfortunately, important, fascinating figures are often lost in the shadows of presenting the life stories and musical contributions of globally-known figures.
To meet this challenge, Enslow Publishers presents its new "
African-American Collective Biographies" series. This six-book group provides biographical sketches of prominent leaders as well as those of lesser-known contributors to culturally important endeavors.
Incredible African-American Jazz Musicians, one of the books in the series, successfully incorporates that paradigm.
Author Stephen Feinstein's well-written work features biographies of seminal figures such as
Miles Davis. Readers and librarians will enjoy how the books' lively design leverages color photographs and illustrations to great advantage. As with all titles in the series, Feinstein's work also includes a brief timeline of each artist's life and achievements.
An excellent choice for reluctant readers, this 112-page book is well suited for grades 5 and up. This book, part of Enslow's Fall 2012 new releases, will be available in library-bound editions for $23.95. That cost represents a 25% school/library discount from Enslow's list price.
