Author Walter Dean Myers and illustrator Christopher created this collection of poem and art, called "Blues Journey", three years prior to the "Jazz" poetry collection. The poems follow, not exactly a main character, but instead, people with the blues. This collection was like scene after scene of people with te blue. It's like a painting with emotion already in it, with the words just giving more insight of what is happening. The stories feel like a mix of poetry and blues music. This mixture seems very fitting for the world. People in their lives with struggles, concerns and demons all trying to get through the day. This is apparent in the text with strong words and lines repeating themselves multiple times in a single poem like a recurring nightmare the people can't wake from. It can't be easy to make you actually feel the music through words, let alone a poem. But somehow, that's exactly what Walter Dean Myers creates, as you feel the pain and sadness that blues represents. ( )

The cover artwork gives the feeling of a “blues journey”. The cover is primarily two shades of blue, the sky and the grass. There is a brown dirt path with a wagon carrying three African Americans. The colors are somber and soft. The art is done with blue ink, white paint, and brown paper bags. This theme continues throughout the book.

I liked this book for it's writing and illustrations. I liked how the author repeated certain lines in his poem. For example, one stanza is "Blues, won't you free me,/let all this suffering cease?/Said blues, wont you free me,/let all this suffering cease?" The repetition of the line expresses the passion and desperation of the speaker. I also thought the illustrations were amazing. The only colors used were white, brown, black, and blue. The blending of the colors enhanced the mood for the poem, in my opinion.

The main idea of this story is to explain to readers the importance of the blues in the African American culture and to explain how music and arts can impact lives. ( )

The “Blues Journey” takes its readers on a journey through the emotions of the people in the pictures. The illustrator did a wonderful job in creating pictures that mirrored what the words were saying. This book is a poetry/song book; this is because the way that the story is written could be put to a beat that could help the story flow better. Also the purpose of this book was to show the journey of African-American musical history. The author clearly shows the ups and downs with the help the of illustrations, the reader can truly get a feel for the emotions that are portrayed in the book. ( )

Poetic story discussing the blues and African American history. Blues events are chronologicalized from 1865-1960s; end of slavery to Bessie Smith recordings to B.B. King being discoverd by white people. Index in back of book has a detailed timeline along with a glossary of blues terms (which are used throught the story) i.e. "hound dog," "parchmens," and "strange fruit".

Awards/Reviews:
ALA Notable Children's Books 2004
Horn Book starred 05/01/03
School Library Journal starred 04/01/03
Kirkus Reviews starred 02/15/03

This book would be great to use in a music class studying the Blues and the history of. It would also work well with analyzing poetry, since students would have to understand the terms in the poem to give a great analytical paragraph on the book.

This book is culturally diverse discussing aspects of African American music history.

I would suggest this book to kids who are really into music of any kind.