Very good companion to "Sahara Special" I loved the characters in this book. ( )

Looking for a little light reading and picked this off my shelf. I read it in one sitting. Not because it was a kids' book of only 210 pages, but because of the characters and the story.

Paris McCray, a fifth-grade African-American living in Chicago and the youngest of five. Her brothers are Louis, Django, Debergerac and Michael. All are named for people in the music world. Paris is named for the City of Lights. All the children are expected to learn an instrument. You see, Daddy is a drummer who does studio sit-ins and night gigs.

Paris has been sent to Mrs. Rosen's for piano lessons. She was taking them at church, but the church burnt down and now Mrs. Rosen was to be her teacher. Michael is to walk to and from the lessons and sit and wait for her. Possibly he would pick a little music education up?

What the children picked up wasn't just music. Mrs. Rosen introduced them to French, to jazz tunes of the 30s and 40s, to chopped liver sandwiches, to the history of the 30s and 40s and to the importance of family and caring about family and others and to dealing with bullies.

This may have been 'light' reading, but it contained some deep thoughts. Good for kids to read, but also very good for adults. Makes you stop and think about people, history -past and current - and the importance of caring. ( )

This story has so many issues that families face in today's society. Paris deals with being the only girl and having three brothers quit well. She is creative and intelligent. Her relationship with Ms. Rosa was wonderful and provided Paris and Rosa something they both needed. It had me in tears a couple of times and smiling from ear to ear at others. The audio recording that I listened to was very well done and could easily be used in the classroom as a read aloud.
Curriculum Connections: Teachers could use the vocabulary Paris learned for vocabulary study. The book could also be used as an addition to study Jewish religion and the holocaust.

This audio CD is good in that a girl named Paris is not just learning piano lessons. She learns a different language, wisdom, and gets to eat different types of food. The Audio Cd is a creative way of learning about Paris. I would recommend keeping it in my future classroom as a different means to enjoy a good story. ( )

This was such a good read - it spun together better then I imagined and has such a nice message to tell. ( )