1 Once Upon a Time in Chicago

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Spaghetti Book Club - Book Reviews by Kids for Kids

Once Upon a Time in Chicago

Written by Jonah Winter

Illustrated by Jeanette Winter


Reviewed by Meghan T. (age 8) & Andrew C. (age 8)


Once Upon a Time in Chicago

Do you want to learn more about Jazz? The subject of this book is how Benny Goodman learned to play jazz, a kind of music. When you close your eyes, jazz is like a squiggly line. It is not straight and not flat. Jazz is sometimes noisy and sometimes soft. It?s relaxing.

Benny Goodman was an immigrant from Russia. He lived in a small dark apartment. His father didn?t get that much money. Benny helped his family get money by learning to play the clarinet. One day Benny Goodman?s father died. Benny cried then he went out on the fire escape and played the clarinet. Well the rest you will have to read for yourself.

We made pictures in our mind to help us understand the book. The pictures move and when we get a picture we think about it and what it means. Sometimes when you ask questions you get surprises and answers. Saying the text in our own words makes it easier and we don?t get mixed up. We reread when we don?t understand it.

When I (Meghan) saw the subtitle about Benny Goodman, I thought I will learn about who he is. My (Andrew) purpose of reading the book was to learn more about jazz.

We recommend this book because it has the history of Benny Goodman. If you like jazz, you will like this.