A spirited picture-book biography of composer Scott Joplin blends lively writing with colorful, distinctive illustrations in gouache, wax pastel, and collage. Joplin was born in the Texas Red River Valley to formerly enslaved parents. Growing up in a musical family, Joplin played the cornet before seeing his first piano. Even before he had lessons he was plinking out songs. With “music bubbling inside him,” he left Texas as a young man, eventually making his way to Chicago, where he first heard ragtime. “The music went round and round in his head.” A job as a piano teacher in Missouri and as a pianist at the Maple Leaf Club, and time in college where he learned to compose, preceded his first ragtime composition, “Maple Leaf Rag.” He went on to compose other ragtime pieces, operas, and ballets. The author’s obvious appreciation of Joplin carries into the lengthy and informative author’s note. (Ages 6-9)

A stunning, rhythmic picture book biography of African American composer Scott Joplin, whose ragtime music paved the way for jazz.

There was something special about Scott Joplin…
This quiet kid could make a piano laugh out loud.

Scott, the son of a man who had been enslaved,
became a king—the King of Ragtime.

This celebration of Scott Joplin, whose ragtime compositions paved the way for jazz, will captivate audiences and put a beat in their step, and the kaleidoscope-like illustrations will draw young readers in again and again.