| Notes: First edition. A few tears to jacket edges, top edge of rear jacket panel creased, jack clipped with price intact. 1971 Large Hardcover. Unpaginated. The brief and beautifully illustrated SCAT!, by Arnold Dobrin, introduces notions of family dis-harmony, religion, and death. Dobrin deals with these difficult concepts in an age-appropriate manner, without over-simplifying them, or transgressing their solemnity. The story follows Scat, an eight year old boy, torn between emulating his trumpet-playing father, and his deeply religious grandmother, who disapproves of secular music. When Scat's grandmother dies, he learns in a moment of solitude that music from the heart - even secular music - is as pure and healing as gospel music. SCAT!, with its spare blue, black, and brown illustration, maintains a beauty uncommon to flashy contemporary children's literature. |