Blog Post 7 - Historical Fiction - Jazz on Saturday Night by Leo & Diane Dillon

Illustration for ‘Jazz on Saturday Night’

    Jazz on Saturday Night by Leo and Diane Dillon is a story about 8 great jazz musicians that have a get together at a fictional nightclub on a Saturday night. The characters in the story are Miles Davis, Max Roach, Charlie Parker, John Coltran, Thelonious Monk, Stanley Clark and Ella Fitzgerald and they perform a concert together. 

    It is historical fiction because it is about real people in history a fictional setting. This is a dream group of jazz musicians all from different time periods that would never have performed together. This beautiful story brings jazz alive for them in a unique way. 

    Some great things to do after reading the story is allow the students to hear the different artists and then imagine what it would be like to hear them all perform together. The student can perhaps choose one of the artists and in small groups do a study of that artist and write a report about them. In their readers response journal, they can choose one of the instruments that the artist played and discuss why they might want to play that instrument. Perhaps the music teacher in the school has some of the instruments the artists used in the story and during music class the music teacher in collaboration with the classroom teacher can demonstrate the instruments as well. 

    The authors Leo and Diane Dillon were married couple who have written and illustrated many books. They have won many awards for their work including two Caldecott Medals.