Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane
Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane
by Carole Boston Weatherford
Ages 5–9
Before John Coltrane became a jazz legend, he was a boy who listened — to church choirs, to radios, to the South Carolina world around him. A lyrical, profound tribute.
- Author
- Carole Boston Weatherford
- Age
- Ages 5–9
- Type
- Music, Biography, Picture Book
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Henry Holt
- Readers rate it
- 4.21 / 5 on
- In India
- Available
If you liked this, try
-
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
by Javaka Steptoe
Ages 6–9
Jean-Michel Basquiat painted the streets of New York and became one of the 20th century's most celebrated artists. A Caldecott Medal-winning picture book biography.
Heads-up: Mental illness
-
Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos
by Monica Brown
Ages 5–8
The great Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is celebrated through the animals she loved and painted — spider monkeys, a deer, a black cat — that fed her extraordinary imagination.
-
Ode to an Onion: Pablo Neruda and His Muse
by Alexandria Giardino
Ages 5–8
The story of how the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda found his muse in Matilde and in the everyday world around him. Gorgeous illustration and lyrical text.
-
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
by Vashti Harrison
Ages 7–10
Forty Black women — from Harriet Tubman to Misty Copeland — in illustrated short biographies that celebrate ambition, courage, and quiet genius.
Heads-up: Racism & discrimination
-
The Boy with the Dancing Bells: The Story of Akram Khan
by Samira Ahmed (illus. Humayra Kabir)
Ages 5–9✈️ Import only (pricey)
The story of Akram Khan, the British-Bangladeshi dancer who grew up dancing kathak and went on to create his own style. A picture-book biography about a boy who followed his love of dance.
-
Each Kindness
Ages 5–8
Chloe refuses to befriend the new girl Maya — and when Maya disappears, Chloe must live with the regret. A profound, bittersweet story about what kindness left undone costs us.
