February is Black History Month, and Scholastic is celebrating by releasing this Reading Rainbow-like collection of stories about important figures in African-American history. With Duke Ellington and More Stories, Scholastic has cast some of the leading African-American actors in Hollywood today including Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show), Billy Dee Williams (Lando!), and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction). By putting A-list actors into their Storybook Treasures collection, Scholastic has shown they are serious about getting kids interested in Black History Month.
Duke Ellington and More Stories includes the picture books Duke Ellington, Ellington Was Not a Street, Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuoso, and John Henry. Forest Whitaker narrates Duke Ellington, Phylicia Rashad narrates Ellington Was Not a Street, Billy Dee Williams narrates Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuoso, and Samuel L. Jackson narrates John Henry. Duke Ellington tells of the life and career of Duke Ellington, starting with him as a young kid taking piano lessons, and the story encourages kids to pursue music, even when it means playing the same boring patterns again and again. In Ellington Was Not a Street, a young girl gets to know famous figures of the civil rights movement back when they were just friends and neighbors coming over for dinner. Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuoso tells the story of Ella Fitzgerald from her humble start as a dancer on the streets in Harlem through her musical career. John Henry is a re-telling of the famous American tall tale including his showdown against the steam engine.
Each actor is well suited for his story, particularly Williams with Ella Fitzgerald and Jackson with John Henry, and I appreciate that they were willing to pay the money for such talent on DVDs that will probably be used mostly in classrooms. My mother and sister are both teachers, and I'm glad that Scholastic is producing strong storytelling tools that they will be able to use during Black History Month. Overall, I think the target audience of young kids and teachers will be entertained as well as educated.
DVD Bonus Features
You can turn off the read-along feature with the stories, and they included discussion questions for each stories and a trailer for the Scholastic DVD stories.
"Duke Ellington and More Stories" is on sale February 8, 2011 and is not rated. Animation, Biopic, Children & Family, Education. Written by Andrea Davis Pinkney, Ntozake Shange, Julius Lester. Starring Billy Dee Williams, Forest Whitaker, Phylicia Rashad, Samuel L Jackson.
