Before John Was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford

Illustrated by Sean Qualls, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2008.
Hardcover edition, 32 pages, ISBN 978-0-8050-7994-4.

A Song of John Coltrane, jazz legend, saxophonist extraordinaire....

Weatherford and Qualls create a seamless stream of music with lyrical text and visual sound pictures which flow from page to page. Qualls' imaginative evocation of sound using bubbles, ribbons, and streaming shapes depicts both the audible and the moving transitory aspects of music. John is shown as a child, listening, considering, absorbing, remembering, internalizing the melodious, rhythmic harmonies of the world around him.

"Before John was a jazz giant,
he picked up that horn,
blew into the mouthpiece, pressed his fingers on the keys, and breathed every sound
he'd ever known into a bold new song.
Before John was a jazz giant,
he was all ears."

A full page biography of John Coltrane is provided in an Author's Note, with a facing page containing a limited discography, and a short bibliography of further reading materials both in print and online.

This book begs to be read with Coltrane's music playing softly in the background. It would be a terrific centerpiece for a program on music or sounds for preschoolers, and lends itself to discussion of sounds around us.

Coretta Scott King Award, Honor Book
ALA Notable Children's
Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
CCBC Choice Book
NCSS-CBC: Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
Golden Kite Honor Book for Picture Book Text
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
Michigan Great Lakes Great Books Award Master List