Who Was Louis Armstrong? by Yona Zeldis McDonough

Who Was Louis Armstrong? Reviews

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  Montzalee Wittmann

  Who Was Louis Armstrong? by Yona Zeldis McDonough is an outstanding book that captures the essence of Louis Armstrong's life, soul, and his music. This is no easy job. Lots of wonderful personal details and great sketches. Over 100 pages of info to delight. Loved this book best in the series. A true rags to riches, poor man to fame story. A book not just for kids, adults will love this book too.
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  Janete on hiatus due health issues

  What a wonderful man!
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  Shainlock

  Oh I love his Music and his style ! And nobody else has it.... nobody !!! I read this a few years ago when I was at the library and I was curious about the musician as a person. This was lengthy for such a book and gave quite a bit of information. I am so glad someone handed him that coronet and encouraged that raw talent !
  It makes me want to read a full length biography on him. I feel like a leaf, windsock, or a flag just drifting happily in the wind when listening to his music. Now that I am reminded of this little book I can look for a good lengthy book about this legend.
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  Anna Traasdahl

  This book was really good! We had to do a biography in reading so I chose Louis Armstrong. I didn't know who he was at all so I read the book and it was wonderful! Louis Armstrong had accomplished so many things in his life which made this book fun to read!
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  Genevieve Bomes

  A very interesting book about the life of Louis Armstrong. There was a lot of things about Satchmo that I didn't know like he had been sent to Colored Boys reform school for shooting a gun in the streets or that he had been married three times. I loved this book and it is a good source if you want to know more about Louis.
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  Dan

  Louis Armstrong was a very interesting and busy man throughout his life. This is a nice condensed version of that famous life.
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  Rosa Cline

  This was a really well written biography, written in a 'storybook' format to hold the attention of the reader instead of just facts on a page. Started with his childhood and included events going on during Mr Armstrong's life. So many times authors leave that out so we as readers often forget these folks didn't live in 'our time' so adding in events such as World Wars and things help places them in their timeframe and the struggles they had to endure. And with Mr Armstrong being a black man he even had to fight the segregation and that was written very well in this book! And in a way that the children who are reading-listening could understand what segregation was. Also in this book from time to time there are pages where the text is different and the author gives a half page to page 'History' lesson on something happening within the story. Such as she explains WWI and Jim Crow laws, the great migration, difference between big bands vs jazz bands etc. At the end she gives a time line of Mr Armstrong's life and on the next page across from it a timeline of events of the world so you can compare in a timeline. She also (which I LOVED) at the end she included a Bibliography.
  
  This book is very nice to sit and read if you have an intrest in learning about Louis Armstrong. But it's a wonderful book for students that may be needing to write a paper on anything from the struggle of African Americans during this time frame, to the world of Jazz, and even may find what you are looking for as far as information about the Colored Waif's Home for Boys. So much wonderful information in this book and presented in a pleasant wonderful way! I have added this book to my 'to buy' for my own home library and have went in (because of this book) and am looking for Mr Armstrong's books he wrote about himself.
  
  Very well done Ms McDonough! Very well done!
• 
  Haruna Saka

  This book:)
  Grosset & Dunlap RL: 3.5
  "Who Was Louis Armstrong?"
  Chapter 4 to the last one.
  By Yona Zeldis McDonough
  
  Time:)
  5/8=53min
  (5/9=12min. I read another book, "The Railway Children")
  
  7 summary:)
  King-Oliver's band-trumpet-segregation-rest-tours-illness
  
  DiscussionQ&A:)
  Q... What kinds of music do you like?? Do you like jazz music??
  A... To be honest, I'm not interested in jazz music.. I have hardly listened to the music:( I like to listen to J-pop and western music! Now, I like One Direction the best now!!:D
  
  My thoughts:)
  Finally, I finished to read this book.
  He was a really skillful and proud person even though he was discriminated by white people as one of the black ones. I look up to his attitude and patience.
  
  
  
  This book:)
  Grosset & Dunlap RL: 3.5
  "Who Was Louis Armstrong?"
  Chapter 1 to 3
  By Yona Zeldis McDonough
  
  Time:)
  5/5= 63min.
  
  7 summary:)
  poor-black- instruments-gun-cornet-the Home-World War Ⅰ
  
  DiscussionQ&A:)
  Q... Did you learn how to play instruments when you were a child?? Any kinds of instruments are ok! And not 'at school'.
  A... Yes, I did. I learned to play the piano from a teacher until I was an elementary school student.
  But, I cannot do it. Haha So I really envy his talents. Also, I was impressed:-)
  
  My thoughts:)
  To be honest, I didn't know about him at all until I read this book. Because I'm not interested in music. However, as I read this book, I could know about his life and was impressed by his talents of playing some kinds of instruments:) I didn't finish to read it! I look forward to it very much!!:D
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  Braylen Chumbley

  The book I read for the month of November is Who was Louis Armstrong. The book was written by Yona Zeldis and it was illustrated by John O'Brien. The genre of this book is nonfiction. It is pretty obvious, but the main character is Louis Armstrong. The main setting is New Orleans. He was born in New Orleans and most of his life takes place there. The book tell's you about how he became so good at music. Music has always been an interest for Louis. This book explains on how he travels the globe to play his music. He was known as "The King of Jazz." I rated this book a 2 out of 5 star because the information it gave was very interesting and accurate, but it was quite confusing. There was too much information about the bands in such a small book. Overall, I thought this book was ok.
  
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  Laura

  This is a fun and exciting biography of Louis Armstrong. It is a chapter book that would appeal to boys and girls. It really gives a very thorough description of his life and the ups and downs that he had to endure. The illustrations are in pen and ink but have incredible detail. This is one in a series on famous people. It could motivate a child to read more as the books are all listed in the back cover of the book.
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  TKhia. H Haywood

  Louis Armstrong is a poor boy from New Orleans who stopped school after grade. A singer, songwriter, composer, cornet player, trumpet player, and actor who wrote books about his life. A jazz musician beloved around the world. When he was a kid he shoots a gun in the middle of town square and got arrested. He was though how to play the cornet in a all boys home place. He was married two times. He died in his sleep next to his wife.
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  Emily

  I really liked this book. I liked that he saw good out of a bad situation when he was arrested. The book made it sound like he cheated on his first wife. It said he left his first wife for his second wife. I liked that he came from a low place and made his way up in soicety. I think he was a really good musician and I wish I could meet him. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes nonfiction or music history.
• 
  Zoe

  This book is about Louis Armstrong. It was a pretty good book. He played the trumpet and cornet. He was called the king of jazz because he was really good at them. He was born in New Orleans. I thought it was interesting how he got arrested for shooting a gun when he was young. I thought it was really sad how he died in his sleep next to his wife. I choose this book because it was really easy and fast to read. I would recommend it to anyone who likes jazz or music.
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  Reed S

  I currently read Louis Armstrong by: Yona Zeldis. Louis Armetrong was one of the poorest people in New Orleans. Even though he was poor he worked many jobs each day to take care of his sick mother. Although he was little many older people looked up to him as a brother. Louis loved music more than anything and that's why he became the best trumpet player to ever live also one of the kindest.
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  Jacob S

  Louis was very good for one thing. His music he made songs and was in bands. At a young age he was the band leader. But I thought this book was good because how talent he was with music. He could use any instrument and make it sound good. I thought the book made some of the information good. and some did not make science. But I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
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  Devin L.

  Wonderful biography of Louis Armstrong told in kid friendly language. It's appropriate for older grades with pretty decent illustrations. I learned quite a bit about the man myself. Great for use when teaching history and Black History.
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  Beth Robey

  The author provided much information and tied it together very well. Now I know a lot about Louis Armstong. He wrote a great beginning, and I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of music.
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  Dasawn Reynolds

  This book is really has a lot of information about music sounds, notes, and Louis Armstrong him self. If wants to learn about about Louis Armstrong and music back then i highly would recommend this book to you.