Ben’s Trumpet by Rachel Isadora, 1979.

A boy named Ben likes to listen to the music coming from the nearby jazz club at night.

During the day, Ben stops by the club on his way home from school so he can watch the musicians practice.

Ben’s favorite instrument is the trumpet. Ben doesn’t have a trumpet himself, but he imagines that he does and that he can play for his family or play along with the musicians from the club.

Some of the other kids in the neighborhood laugh at Ben for playing an imaginary trumpet, but the trumpeter from the club doesn’t laugh. When he sees Ben playing his imaginary horn, he compliments him.

Later, when he sees Ben watching the club, the trumpeter invites Ben inside and lets him try his trumpet for real.

This book is a Caldecott Honor Book. It’s available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

My Reaction

I thought this was a nice story about an adult who understands a boy’s dream and is willing to take him under his wing. Both Ben and the trumpeter understand the love of music, and the trumpeter sees how badly Ben wants to be a real musician. We don’t know whether Ben eventually becomes a professional musician or not because the story ends with him trying a real trumpet for the first time, but the story implies that the trumpeter may become a mentor to Ben and that this might be the beginning of Ben realizing his dream.

The book doesn’t give a specific date for the story, but the illustrations and use of terms like “the cat’s meow” indicate that it takes place in the 1920s. The illustrations not only give the story its 1920s vibe, but the abstract lines included in the pictures help to convey the sounds of the music and echo the art deco style popular during the 1920s.

There are a couple of things in the pictures that adults should be aware of. There is one picture where Ben’s baby brother is completely naked, for some reason, and there are adults with cigarettes. Other than that, I can’t think of anything else about the book that would be a cause for concern. There is no specific location given for the story, but it takes place in a city, and all of the characters are African American.