Help me find a novel/play about jazz, for kids!

[Chef_Troy]

I need both a novel and a play that have some connection to jazz. They should be suitable for sixth-graders. Anyone have any suggestions?

Maybe something from one of the Harlem Renaissance writers

[Kimstu]

OOOH OOH OOH!!! The book you need—not want, not might consider, not should look at, but NEED—is Yolonda’s Genius, by Carol Fenner. Guest appearance by B. B. King! (Yeah, okay, that’s really blues, not jazz, but there are jazz references in there too.) Fun plot, and beautiful descriptions of how a musically brilliant small boy thinks about his music.

1996 Newberry Honor book. Reading level: ages 9–12.

[Chef_Troy]

@Kimstu

OOOH OOH OOH!!! The book you need—not want, not might consider, not should look at, but NEED—is Yolonda’s Genius, by Carol Fenner. Guest appearance by B. B. King! (Yeah, okay, that’s really blues, not jazz, but there are jazz references in there too.) Fun plot, and beautiful descriptions of how a musically brilliant small boy thinks about his music.

1996 Newberry Honor book. Reading level: ages 9–12.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don’t think I can use it for this project – I’m now looking pretty exclusively at works written during the Harlem Renaissance (1920-1940) – but it sounds like a good book and I may look it up for my future classroom anyway.