Rachka's tribute to jazz musician Thelonius Monk is small in physical size (7 3/8 x 6 1/2") and large in concept. Using a complex concept paralleling the color wheel to music notes on the scale, Raschka develops a poem in which Raschka's unique musical composition can be seen and the impact of "Mister Monk's" music "of freedom" can be experienced. "There were no wrong notes on his piano." Not one. Rainbow colors, square shapes and a handwritten text are fully integrated with each other in this incomparable little volume. Raschka's books Charlie Parker Played Be Bop (Orchard, 1992) and Simple Gifts (Henry Holt, 1998) also show his interest in communicating visually in books for the young about music. (Age 7-adult)

Audacious and extraordinary, this picture book is not a portrait of the great pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. Imagine, instead, that the music of Mr. Monk were to sit for a portrait. It might look something like this -- enticing and unexpected, richly colored and patterned, brilliantly executed. Inspired by one of Monk's best-loved compositions, "Mysterioso", Mr. Raschka matched the twelve musical tones of the diatonic scale to the twelve color values of the color wheel, then set paint strokes for notes and color washes for harmonies. "There were", the text says of Mr. Monk, "no wrong notes on his piano". There are, as well, no wrong notes in this astonishing tribute to his genius.