A brief, rhythmic text printed in different styles and varied with playful onomatopoeia recalls the humor and cadences of a great jazz musician: ``...Charlie Parker played saxophone./The music sounded like be bop./Never leave your cat alone./Be bop./Fisk, fisk./Lollipop./Boomba, boomba./Bus stop./Zznnzznn./Boppity, bibbitty, bop. BANG!'' The equally evocative art is rendered in rough charcoal with watercolors added. Like Polacco, Raschka uses a vigorous line and angular perspectives to give his figures extraordinary energy; creating jaunty, fantastical creatures to move with the beat, he draws on Parker's nickname (``Bird'') and words from his songs (e.g., ``lollipop'' and ``bus stop'' above). The musician himself is depicted as heavy-eyed and intent; the monumental, solitary cat is a powerful counterpoint. A curiosity, witty and offbeat. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 3+)
