Little Lil and the Swing-Singing Sax - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 4-Little Lil's Uncle Sudi Man is renowned for his saxophone playing in a neighborhood jazz club. When Lil's mother becomes ill, there is no money for medicine. Uncle Sudi Man pawns his sax for the medicine that helps Mama Big Lil's health, but fails to lift her spirits. As Christmas approaches, Little Lil draws a picture that she offers to the pawn broker in exchange for the saxophone. His reluctance to make the trade causes the girl to offer him her precious family ring. "Bless your heart," he says, and gives her back her ring and the instrument, taking Little Lil's drawing and displaying it in his window. The family then has itself a fine, dancing holiday. What is indisputably "swing-singing" in this story is the text. It is written in the vivid language of the storyteller, rich in image, energy, and rhythm. Uncle Sudi Man's horn playing is described as "...angel-sweet, blue-curling notes rising like a prayer." The story invites reading aloud. Cohen's acrylic paintings render the African-American characters in a flat, primitive style, and are bold in both color and line. They are solid, yet full of vitality. Young readers caught up in the lilt of the language and the bounce of the art may be genuinely surprised when the pawn broker is persuaded by Little Lil's sacrifice. An affectionate memory of a time and place when "...we didn't have much money but we had a lot of love and we laughed more than we cried."-Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Little Lil lives with her mother, Mama Big Lil, and her ``fat- cheeked, curly-haired, horn-blowing Uncle Sudi Man.'' They are poor, but they love each other, and they laugh more than they cry. They also have Uncle Sudi Man's low-moaning sax, which blows pleasure into people's lives. When Mama Big Lil gives Little Lil a ring with a blue stone--a family heirloom--life can't get much better. Instead, it gets bad: Mama Big Lil is sick, and Uncle Sudi Man pawns his sax for the medicine money. Little Lil, however, knows that no amount of medicine will return the sparkle to Mama Big Lil's eyes the way that ``swing-singing'' sax could, so she trades her ring at the pawn shop and brings music back into their lives. Gray (My Mama Had a Dancing Heart, 1995, etc.) sparks warmth that fairly radiates off the page, testifying to the healing powers of music and to the hidden power of love and generosity. She charges the narrative with a hip-hop beat: ``So on a snow-swirling day with neon lights far below us blink blink blinking like an upside-down, cold electric sky, Mama Big Lil and I danced on that flat, black rooftop.'' Newcomer Cohen's illustrations are bright, bold concoctions, as flat and stylized as poster art, full of visual energy as they snap and sizzle along with the story. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.