The Boy With The Bull Fiddle On His Back! Double Bass Blues by Andrea J. Loney

ZIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

HUMMMMM...

"EPIC SOLO, NIC!"

String bass player Nic takes a bow to the applause of his peers as practice breaks up and the kids in the band pack up to go home.

After school orchestra practice Nic straps his big double bass on his back and makes his way across town. It's not an easy trip.

Nic's trip begins with a shortcut over a backyard fence--with quite a tussle between his double bass case and a determined dog. Bass fiddle on his back, he has a crowded bus ride, a run through the rain, and a clamber up several flights of narrow stairways--until he at last knocks on Granddaddy's door.

"LOOK WHO'S HERE!

LITTLE NIC!!"

Little Nic takes his place and the jazzmen jam together--each one, but as one.

Andrea J. Loney's Double Bass Blues (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019) is told in rhythmic language, exuberantly illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez in swirling colors and firm, sure-handed line from rehearsal to jam session in a natural progression in which music, words, and feeling come together as one. Says School Library Journal, "Colorful, full of movement, limited in text but loaded with emotion, this is an ode to the diversity of music...."