Children's Book Focuses on The Great Django

[Rick Foster]

"Django: World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist" is the title for a new children's book about the late Gypsy swing star illustrated with evocative text and lush oil paintings.

Author Bonnie Christensen captures the spirit of Django Reinhardt in language that lets children get to know he great Django whose personal story is as riveting as his music. Born into extreme poverty, in a gypsy encampment, Django overcame tremendous obstacles, including a debilitating injury to become a legend in the annals of jazz.

Jan. 23 marks the 100th birthday of the late swing king.

Through evocative prose and paintings Christensen illuminates an extraordinary life and introduces a masterful musician to a new generation. Christensen also includes an informative afterword, notes, bibliography and a selected discography.

DJANGO: World’s Greatest Jazz Guitarist • by Bonnie Christensen is a A Neal Porter Book/Published by Roaring Brook Press • ISBN: 978-1-59643-422-6 Hardcover Picture Book • Ages 5 to 9 / Grades K to 4 • 32 pages • $17.99 •


BONNIE CHRISTENSEN is the author-illustrator of Woodie Guthrie: Poet of the People, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and a New York Times Notable Book. Her illustrations also appear in the London Folio Society's edition of The Grapes of Wrath and over ten children's books, including Pompeii, Lost and Found by Mary Pope Osborne. Most recently, she illustrated Ida B. Wells: Let The Truth Be Told, with text by Walter Dean Myers. Bonnie's fine art prints have been exhibited internationally. When she’s not working on books or making prints, Bonnie can be found playing violin and gloating over the fact that she shares a birthday with Django Reinhardt. The day, NOT the year! She lives in Wilson, North Carolina.