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Happy Halloween tomorrow!
While wishing some of these things would never have happened to young Clayton Byrd, I know that life is complicated, hope that middle-grade children will take away some life learning from this book. Rita Williams-Garcia gave me a lot of learning, too, about blues and hip-hop swirling in and out, up and down Clayton’s life. The sweetest relationship with his grandpa begins the story, and we learn that Clayton is sneaking away with his grandpa, Cool Papa, to play the blues harp (harmonica) with the Blues Men in Washington Square. Cool Papa’s been playing and being loved for his blues guitar playing for a lot of years, and he's been teaching Clayton, whose biggest wish is to have a solo. Not only will he not get the solo, but he also loses Cool Papa too, who dies one night in his sleep. There is a journey with lots of hurt in this story, hitting back, running away, not giving up, then “maybe” giving up, but “staying cool” as Clayton had learned to be. The blues music he loves fills the book with a bit of hip-hop jumping into his adventure when he chooses another path after Cool Papa dies. Then, he learns some things as he goes, but it doesn’t turn out as wished except for one good thing. I imagine this book should be read by many kids and their teachers, too. There is a nice author’s letter at the end.