MY PIANO with Jen Fier Jasinski Layers of Music and Fun!

Jany Campana!!!  Congratulations! You are the winner of either a PB critique OR a Zoom visit from Lisa Rogers!  Thanks for your constant support of PBJamz! And thanks, Lisa, for your generosity!  I'll put the two of you in touch to make arrangements! :-)

A Fully Packed Chat with Jen Fier Jasinski

Jen's book is fully packed with layers and so is this conversation!  Join us as we chat writing, process, rhyme, inspiration, peanut butter and jelly recipes, and more!  Such a fun conversation with a delightful author about an amazing book.  MY PIANO is beautiful in words and illustrations!  And by the way, we double-checked with Anita about the pronunciation of her name "it's pronounced Bahg-dee/Bawg-dee... the "a" makes a sound like like that in "claw" or "paw", not "bag" like the container."

MY PIANO by Jen Fier Jasinski

MY PIANO is written by Jen Fier Jasinski and illustrated by Anita Bagdi. Published by Gnome Road Publishing, this book has more layers than Grandma's chocolate cake!Rhyme, cumulative structure, parts of a piano, and SEL tips for how to handle recital jitters?  Check, check, check, and check!  It's beautifully written and beautifully illustrated and full of so much goodness!  It's a fabulous introduction to the piano, a helpful treatise on how to deal with stage fright and recital nerves, and a wonderfully fun read-aloud. Both author and illustrator have outdone themselves and the results are this fabulous picture book.  It's perfect for little pianists, little music-lovers, little recitalists, little readers, little writers -- and big ones, too.  It's a perfect reminder that picture books are truly for everyone!

A Little Jam. . .(The Music Kind)

This was Umi Garrett's first television appearance. on the Ellen Degeneres Show as a young child.  She does some amazing piano tricks and plays beautifully!

Teacher Tips, Tricks and Topics
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Be sure to also check out the resources section below. The Pinterest boards, YouTube playlist and the educator Guide from Gnome Road are all there with tons of ideas for how to use this book in your classroom, at home, or in your music room.

• On that first page, I would read the first line, let students look at the picture and make some predictions. What do you think is happening? Where is she? Why? What do you think this book is going to be about?
• This book is the perfect book to talk about setting. We get the setting from the first spread, but students will have to use their inferring skills to determine where they are.  A great conversation starter about who has been on stage before? Where? Why? How did you feel at the beginning?  How about at the end?  Set the stage (pun intended ;-) for how our young protagonist may be feeling.
• Prepositional phrases are a natural fit for this book as well. "under the soundboard" "to the frame" "in the case" etc. (For younger students positional words and games: in, on, under, through, over, etc. There are some fun songs on YouTube -- I'll try to link one or two in the playlist.)
• Rhyme, of course, is a perfect thing to delve into as well. For young learners, perhaps just recognizing the rhyme (pause and let them fill in the repetitive rhymes or make a guess at the rhyming word if it's one they should be familiar with.) For older learners, generating a rhyming list with some of the words that are used, or simply asking for  3 words that rhyme with base, etc.
• When you get to the page with "Soon the recital is going to start. . . " how does the book change here? What is this young girl feeling? Why? What can she do to help herself? Have you ever been in that situation? What helped you? 
• When the author says the audience is gone, what does she mean? Did the audience really disappear?
• What did the pianist do to push through her nervousness? (SEL)
• On the spread, that reads, "And this is the show. . . SWELL, RIPPLE, FLOW . . ." why do you think the illustrator chose to put some of the words in the illustration?
• How does the author show how the music affects the listeners?  How does the illustrator show the same thing? Does it help having words and pictures showing it in different ways? Why do you think so?
• Did the audience enjoy her performance? How do you know? Cite text evidence that shows how they felt.
• Math -- you could take the pattern of the white and black keys and have students create another pattern that matches the keyboard pattern
• Science/STEAM -- Lots of science possibilities with how sound is formed, how it travels, how it's affected by the various pedals, etc. This would be a great study in conjunction with your music teacher if you and they are willing.
• After reading, there are a couple of good videos in the YouTube playlist with close-up tour of a piano.  If you have a piano at home or in the school setting, take kids there and let them see and experience the different parts of the piano.
• As a follow-up activity, labeling a piano worksheet (Pinterest board has a couple) or "show me" game if you're standing in front of a real piano. (Show me the strings. Show me the pedals, etc.)

Tips and Topics for Music Teachers
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• This book is chock full of musical vocabulary. You could preteach some of the vocabulary or use it as a review, or you could create motions (or sounds) for students to do every time they hear the word ______ (Ex strings, they could pretend to hold a violin; keys, they could pretend to play an invisible keyboard, pedals, they could tap their foot, soundboard, they could put their hand to their ear, etc.) 
• Fabulous way to introduce the piano. For older students, you might do a lesson on the history of the piano and how it changed. Or other keyboard instruments and compare/contrast
• Simple piano lessons (Some on the YouTube playlist)
• A great way to introduce the keyboard pattern of white keys and black and how they're the same, whether you're on a grand piano, upright or keyboard. There are also some worksheets and activities for beginning to learn the letter names of the keys on the Pinterest board.
• After reading, there are a couple of good videos in the YouTube playlist with close-up tour of a piano.  If you have a piano at home or in the school setting, take kids there and let them see and experience the different parts of the piano. The back matter of the book is stellar for this and the next suggestion.
• As a follow-up activity, labeling a piano worksheet (Pinterest board has a couple) or "show me" game if you're standing in front of a real piano. (Show me the strings. Show me the pedals, etc.)
• The back matter of the book has a fabulous section on how to prepare for a recital/performance that would be very helpful leading up to a performance. (There's also an excellent TED talk in the YouTube playlist).
• There are some stellar performances by very young kids on the YouTube playlist that would be a great addition to the book.
• Particularly interesting might be to show videos of Umi Garrett on the Ellen Show, and then subsequent performances after that as she gets older. What changes? What stays the same?

Writing Prompts from Tonnye
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1. This book is patterned after another story that's been around a long time, THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT. A song that uses the cumulative structure is The Twelve Days of Christmas. Try your hand at writing a cumulative story where the parts are repeated and one gets added each time.
2. Choose your favorite musical instrument and try writing about all the parts of your instrument and how they work together to make sound.
3. Write a letter to the young girl with your tips for helping her to push through her nerves and do a great job anyway.
4. Choose 5 of the musical words from the story to write your own story.
5. In your own words, write what you learned about a piano from the text.
6. Listen to a piece of piano music and write about how it makes you feel and why.
7. If you've ever performed in front of a lot of people, write about how you felt at the beginning and how you felt at the end.
8. The audience in the book felt _____________ when she played. I know because. . . .(cite 3 examples of text evidence.)
9. Write a poem about the piano using some of the things you learned.
10. Write an ACROSTIC poem titled PIANO.
11. Draw a picture of a piano and label the parts.
12. Use at least 5 sentences to write about how a piano makes sound.
13. Write about whether you like piano music or not and explain why.
14. Write a letter from this young student to her teacher. What do you think she would say to them? How would she sign her letter?
15. Make a poster for her recital. What would need to go on the poster?
16. Have you ever learned to play a musical instrument? What was that like? What was hard? What did you enjoy?
17. Choose a word from the book. Make a list of as many rhyming words as you can.
18. When you are nervous (or have another big feeling) how do you handle it? Does that work for you? Is there anything you would change after reading this book?
19. Write a letter to the author or the illustrator telling them three things you liked about the book. (You could even mail or email it to them.)

Writing Tips from Jen
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1. Read lots and lots of recently published picture books. Then read some more.  
2. Connect to others in the kidlit community through courses, social media, critique groups, etc. The publishing industry is an emotional roller coaster and more fun with friends by your side. 
3. Take your writing seriously and others will, too. 
4. When writing feels too hard, take a break to go play.

Links, More Fun, Extensions for Families and Everyone!
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Pinterest board, full of diagrams, videos lessons, coloring sheets, piano-labeling sheets and so much more!  Lots of things here for lessons So many great extensions and companions for the book!

YouTube playlist full of great music, piano lessons, recital tips, performances and more!

Pinterest board with piano lessons, tips, etc. for learning to play.

Educator Guide from Gnome Road Publishing

MY PIANO page from Gnome Road Publishing (word search, coloring page, and more)





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PBJamz Snack
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I had cute little thumbprint cookies and their recipe ready, as I thought that would be a lovely post-recital reception treat.  Then I was back on Jen's blog and saw that her birthday is Pi Day and I thought about changing to pie, but if you look at the picture below carefully, you'll see "cake" in the background. and her info says her favorite days include cake, so . . . I changed my mind and I'm posting this beautiful and decadent PBJ cake in honor of MY PIANO's (slightly belated) book birthday! You can find the recipe here. It requires some effort, but looks to be totally worth it, and I certainly think that any day with this cake in it would be a very good day indeed, and it, too, would make a lovely post-recital reception offering.  And, it's beautiful to look at as well. Whether you serve it at a recital reception, a birthday party or simply Sunday dinner, I wish you days of music and laughter to go along with it! 

Guest Links and Giveaways
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Jen is a dear fun-loving human being who is lovely to talk to, full of great ideas, and who has a great laugh.  If you'd like to learn more about her, connect with her, or purchase her book, keep reading!

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Jen has graciously offered a giveaway -- your choice of a picture book critique, a zoom session, a signed copy of MY PIANO if you are the winner!
To be eligible, leave a comment below, and I'll add your name to the drawing!