Swing Cafe

K-Gr 3—Brazilian, early jazz, and swing music accompany Brazilian (and Grammy nominee) Bebel Gilberto's and Canadian David Francis's excellent, expressive narration of a picture book about Zaz, a female cricket living in Brazil who can sing. One day she decides she wants to go to New York to sing, so she hitchhikes on the fruit hat of a woman boarding a ship. When she arrives, she meets up with a fly that recommends the Swing Café and accompanies her there, where she finally gets her chance to shine. At appropriate times during the story, music recorded by greats such as Carmen Miranda ("Manuello"), Duke Ellington ("Creole Love Call"), Fats Waller ("Handful of Keys"), and Ella Fitzgerald ("Sing Me a Swing Song") is inserted. Sound effects of chirping crickets, tweeting birds, and whistling trains enhance the narrative by Belgian author Carl Norac (My Daddy Is a Giant, My Mommy Is Magic), who also slips in the occasional Portuguese phrase. The illustrations are a well-executed combination of paintings and collage, but are confusing as the insect characters are portrayed as dark-skinned humans. The stylized pictures are also somewhat surreal: the ship in which Zaz sails is a folded newspaper carried by sailors, the Empire State Building sits atop a hydraulic lift, etc. Seven of the jazz recordings are repeated in their entirety at the end of the CD, including "Hot and Bothered" (Duke Ellington) and "Minnie the Moocher" (Cab Calloway), among others. An intriguing way to introduce children to early jazz music—Beverly Wrigglesworth, San Antonio Public Library, TX