Mick Carlon – författare

"When Louis was home in Queens, neighborhood kids would gather around as he brought them into jazz. His music still vibrantly lives around the world, and his spirit of humaneness lives in Travels with Louis by Mick Carlon, teacher of jazz to the young of all ages."—Nat Hentoff

"Thanks to his friendship with the great Louis Armstrong, twelve-year old Fred sees his world expand from ice cream and baseball in Queens to jazz at the Village Vanguard, a civil rights sit-in in Nashville, and ecstatic concerts in London and Paris. A wonderful story, which rings true on many levels."—Michael Cogswell, director, Louis Armstrong House Museum

"Carlon is driven by a love divided evenly between the subject and the act of writing itself."—Brian Morton, author of The Penguin Guide to Jazz

Praise for Mick Carlon''s Riding on Duke''s Train:

"In schools where students are lucky enough to experience classroom jazz studies, this title, combining rich musical history and a ''you are there'' approach, is a natural."—Kirkus Reviews

"Enthralling. . . . An adventure story with a smart, historical framework."—ForeWord, Recommended Books for Kids

"A ripping good yarn."—Brian Morton

Queens, 1959. Twelve-year-old Fred loves reading, baseball, and playing trumpet with his neighbor, Louis Armstrong. Fred accompanies Louis to Nashville, where he encounters a Civil Rights lunch counter strike, and to London and Paris. Characters include Langston Hughes, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington. Says jazz photographer Jack Bradley, "Reading this book is like visiting my friend again. This is the way he was, folks."

"A fast-paced narrative. . . . compelling and intense reading, by turns funny, tender, and horrifying, Girl Singer is the real deal—a captivating, well-told tale." —Fred Kasten, Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist

"Carlon is a natural heir of Robert Louis Stevenson. If you like good fiction, you''ll like Girl Singer." —Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz

"Carlon is a unique educational force, bringing young readers into the pleasures and drama of jazz." —Nat Hentoff, Jazz Country, Boston Bay, etc.

"An arresting and wonderful story that communicates—through a deep relationship between a singer and a Holocaust survivor—the joy of music, self-discovery, pain, and racism." —Dick Golden, host of George Washington University Presents American Jazz

"Avery''s story tackles hard topics—racism, women''s rights—which transcend time and place. A tale with deep resonance and educational force, that will keep readers turning pages." –Marilyn Lester, executive director, the Duke Ellington Center for the Arts

Harlem 1938: eighteen-year-old Avery, aspiring singer, is heard by Lester "Pres" Young, Count Basie''s tenor saxophonist. Pres recommends her to Basie, and Avery is whisked into the jazz life. Years later, with several hit records to her credit, Avery settles in Greenwich Village. But her life takes a sharp turn when she meets Karl, a Jewish refugee from Hitler''s Germany.

Mick Carlon is a thirty-year veteran English and journalism teacher at the high and middle school levels, and the author of the middle-grade novels Riding on Duke''s Train and Travels with Louis. He is a frequent contributor to Jazz Times.