Once Upon a Time in Chicago is a biography written by Jonah Winter. The biography is about Benny Goodman and how he became a legendary Jazz musician. Benny Goodman's father encouraged him to become a musician. He grew up rather poor coming from a family of one of twelve children. Benny started off playing music at the local synagogue playing the clarinet. As time went on, Benny went on to playing in bars and clubs as a young child, making money for his family. Benny's father died when he was still young. His father's death was his inspiration to keep playing, because his father was his favorite person in the whole world.

The illustrations in this book go really well with the words on the page.

Benny Goodman's gained his significance being an American-jazz clarinets and bandleader. Benny is known as the "King of Swing" around the world. He also led one of the most popular musical groups in the U.S. ( )

Benny Goodman was a boy a few words. What he did have was the ability to speak through his music, so much so that he was playing his jazz in nightclubs even in his teens. His father was a very hardworking man that worked long days for little pay to support Benny and his eleven brothers and sisters but one thing he worked even harder to pay for was the clarinet lessons for Benny. His father died before Benny had the chance to really thank him so Benny did the only thing he knew, and that was play, and play, and play and play. His music still lives on to this very day and for all days to come. ( )

I liked the book “Once Upon a Time in Chicago: The Story of Benny Goodman”. One aspect I liked about the book was the writing. In this book, the writer kept it short and to the point. I feel like most biography books have a lot of words because the writer is trying to inform the reader the most they can about a particular subject. “Benny liked playing the clarinet more than he liked talking. For a while, Benny’s family couldn’t keep him away from his instrument. His brothers and sisters made him practice on the fire escape.” These few sentences show how the writer kept to the point and did not go in drastic detail about aspects of his life. Another aspect I liked was the illustrations. The illustrations were always in the same spot on each page, the illustrations at the top and the wording at the bottom. The illustrations were all brightly colored with colors such as, purple, green, blue, orange and yellow. On each page the reader is first distracted by the illustration and then looks at the words down below. The illustrations also depict the character’s emotions very well. The big idea of this story is to follow your dreams. In the story, Benny’s family tried to keep him away from his instrument but he refused, because of that he was noticed and was paid to play music. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked the book because of the illustrations used. This story talks about a time period that most young children would not understand. Having images of what life was like when Benny was younger could help them understand the time period better.

Unfortunately, I didn't like the story because there is a part in the book where the author explains to the readers that Benny's father died. Maybe because the book is targeted for younger children, but I thought that the author just said that he died and that was it. Benny's father's death was crucial because it helped Benny become the musician that changed jazz music forever. This is important, but the author just said that he died and moved on.

Benny Goodman was a famous clarinet musician that changed jazz music forever. It was so long ago so I believe that the author created this biography so younger readers can know more about Benny and be more aware of this time period. ( )

The story is of the famous Benny Goodman.Second graders would understand the concept of immigrants. It is put in a way that kids just get a taste and if they want to explore more they can. ( )