Dizzy Module 3

Dizzy

By Janah Winter

Book Blog Module 3

Illuminating Characters PG #136-137

A.    Author	Janah Winter
B.     Title	Dizzy
C.     Illustrator	Sean Quals
D.    Readability Score	Grade Level Equivalent 4.6
E.     Genre	Biography
F.      Subgenre	Juvenile Nonfiction
G.    Theme	Composers and musicians
H.    Primary and Secondary Characters	Dizzy Gillespie
I.       Awards/Date of Publication	2006, received 5 star reviews and was an ALA Notable
J.       Publishing Company	Arthur A. Levine Books
K.    ISBN Number	0-439-50737-5
L.     Summary	Dizzy is about a great musician named Dizzy Gillespie.  The book begins with a young Dizzy who began fighting because it made him feel better about himself.  Eventually the reader learns that Dizzy’s father beat on him as a young child.  One day his music teacher handed him a trumpet to play.  Dizzy tried and it made him feel great.  He turned all of him attention to learning to play the trumpet.  He created the sound of music known as bebop.  He has become known as the Prince of Jazz.
M.   Picture of Book Cover
N.    Usage with students	“Dizzy” would be great to include in a text set in February during Black History month. Vocabulary Building: There are many instruments featured in the illustrations of Dizzy. Passing the book around, make a list of the instruments your group can identify. There's a trumpet, sax, French horn, bass, piano and drums. Now brainstorm to create a list of instruments not featured in this book. If your group is learning to use a dictionary, have each child choose an instrument, find it in the dictionary and share more about it with the group. This could be written or verbal. Working on syllables? How many syllables are in "Dizzy?" How many in "Gillespie?" How many in "jazz?" Painting to the Beat: Provide paper, watercolor paints and space for each child to paint. Play one of Dizzy Gillespie's many CDs that are available at your local library, music or bookstore. Let them listen to a song first and then play it again while they paint. Encourage children to paint to the beat. Ask them to consider what "color" a song feels like. Be sure to have them write the title of the song, along with their name and date on their musical masterpiece.