BEN'S TRUMPET

Isadora's throbbing black-and-white representations of the sounds and rhythms and moods of jazz change in style from page to page, from realistic fine-line figures. . . to vibrant silhouettes. . . to liquid closeups of spotlit soloists. . . to a smashing collage of livewire geometrics--yet the pictures flow together like the different breaks in a jazz performance. The setting is art-deco inner city, where ""Ben sits on his fire escape and listens to the music from the Zig Zag Jazz Club,"" playing his imaginary trumpet along with the group and ""think[ing] that the [real] trumpeter is the cat's meow."" The story isn't much--the other kids tease Ben because his horn isn't real, but then the Zig Zag trumpeter notices him and fixes him up with one that is--and the pictures are probably best appreciated by kids old enough to pick up on the grace notes. But just as ""Ben feels the rhythm of the music all the way home,"" so Isadora's audience will feel the excitement and glamour of the Zig Zag Club flashing from her pictures.