If I Only Had a Horn: Young Louis Armstrong

I am a music teacher in an elementary school where there are many cultures represented. I wanted to add to my collection of stories for children, using February and Black History Month as the backdrop and music as the subject matter. One of the books that met this need was "If I Only Had a Horn: Young Louis Armstrong". The book sheds light on the hardships Louis had as a child and his love of music. It is candid in telling why he was sent to a boy's home (without getting too serious) and how he had to learn patience to earn his horn. The pictures are expressive and my students thoroughly enjoyed the story. I added some recordings to complete the lesson, especially "Dippermouth Blues" which gets it's name from a nickname of his as a child; and that is mentioned in the book. I used this for grades 3-5 and my students enjoyed it, learned about Louis as a boy and how he overcame many troubles for the love of his music. It is a welcome addition to my children's collection.

This book is a bit long for younger children, but works well for 3-4th graders. If you paraphrase the wording, it might work better to keep the kids' attention. I teach music classes and found this helped the students. There is a part of book that says Louis fired his Uncle's gun off in the street for New Years, so we had to discuss why it was dangerous to do that. Luckily, the book also describes Louis' getting caught by the police in the act. This is a touching story which I hope is true. I'm not sure whether it is or not, but the end is very moving and my students were engaged by it.

I bought this book after reading the recommendation for ages 4+. I should've noted the grade level recommendation (2nd grade+), as I purchased this book to read to my Kindergarteners. I had to basically "re-write" the book at their level and read the script I had come up with my self. I also skipped the part about Louis shooting off a gun and getting arrested. I just told the children in the class that Louis got into some trouble and had to go stay at a special home for older kids who get into trouble a lot.I wish, so badly, that there would be a biography series, a decent, or even, excellent! (oh my!), series for younger grades, as in Pre-K/K. It seems that most biographies try to pack so much information into one book and the children honestly become overwhelmed. This book wasn't too bad about the information overload, it was more or less an issue of just being above grade level for my Kindergarteners. So I suppose if I had read this to 3rd graders I would give it 4 stars. I don't know, something left me wanting more. I feel like there would still be a lot of explaining to do for even third and fourth graders.Anywho... I would love to see more simplistic biographies come out that get to the "meat" of it for younger children who can not tolerate listening to tons of dates and locations. (Which, by the way, this book did not do too much... The most confusing parts for me were the mentioning of the gun issue - what elementary school wants teachers reading about that? Also confusing was how his sister was called Mama... Mama something. I can't remember now. I had to stop and explain to the kids why I thought she may be called that.)TLDR: Anyways, to some it up, as I'm clearly rambling.. I believe the book is decent to good for older elementary aged children and a bit off target/too difficult for younger elementary. Also, possibly some inappropriate content for elementary schools/school in general, at least for the younger kiddos for sure.

I needed it for Black History Month. I teach second grade. My students enjoyed it.

Very good book for a kid . It met its purpose

This is a well-told story about how Louis Armstrong learned to play the cornet when he was a boy in New Orleans. The story moves at just the right pace, neither too fast nor too slow, and the author captures how young Louis must have felt hearing music all around him but being too poor to participate.

This book is a good buy if you want to share one of the stories of Louis Armstrong with a child. I reitterate, ONE of the stories. When reading about Louis Armstrong, I have come across three different versions of how Satchmo attained his trumpet/cornet. This story suggests that the band directer at the colored-waiffs home for boys gave him his first cornet. This book is a good portrayal of this book if this is the story you believe. If reading for strictly the purpose of introducing a musical legend and/or instrument to a child, this is a great story. If teaching about the person, I wouldn't rely solely on this tale regarding Louis Armstrong.

A nice booklet for children