Classroom Connections: Flora and the Jazzers by Astrid Sheckels

age range: 4-8 years
format: picture book
Astrid Sheckels

★ A sumptuously illustrated Jazz Age Cinderella story.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Perfect for fans of underdog stories, jazz lovers, and anyone who’s ever dared to dream beyond their current circumstances, Flora and the Jazzers is a triumph of hope, heart, and harmony—a picture book to treasure.
—The Children’s Book Review

An Amazon Editors’ Best Book of the Month pick for Ages 3-5

Please tell us about your book.

Flora and the Jazzers is a 1920s Jazz Age Cinderella story, with animals! Flora the ferret works as a scullery maid at a fancy hotel, cleaning all day, with a heart full of music. She longs to attend a concert, and it looks like her dream might come true when her favorite band, The Jazzers, arrives at her hotel to perform for the guests. But when the hotel manager tells Flora that she cannot attend, that music is “not for someone like you”, Flora’s hopes are dashed. The Jazzers, however, have problems of their own, and Flora is just who they need. In true Cinderella style, Flora enters the banquet hall, transformed into a dazzling singer, and her true voice is finally heard.

What inspired you to write this story?

I really enjoy the aesthetics of the 1920s, and I thought it would be fun to create a book in that setting. Images of jazz bands floated around in my head for a while, as did a storyline about a group of musicians in need of some help and getting it from an unlikely source. Somewhere along the way, Flora waltzed in, with her bucket and sponge, and suddenly I had my story. 

A real life inspiration for Flora was my Danish grandmother. She grew up in the 1930s and was very hardworking and unassuming. I wanted a main character who wasn’t dreaming of becoming a star or making a name for herself, just doing her work diligently, and along the way her heart and voice are valued and recognized.

Could you share with readers how you conducted your research and share a few interesting tidbits about your writing and illustration process with this book?

As opposed to many of my other stories which take place in the woods or at sea, Flora’s story is in a city. That meant doing a lot of research about what architecture and furniture and wallpaper looked like back in the 1920s. I really wanted to capture the Art Deco feel of that time period. Additionally, I was constantly having to think about perspective and angles. A tree will look like a tree, even if it is a little crooked, but a crooked room just doesn’t work! Interior scenes are very unforgiving.

I researched fashion from that period, and then had to figure out how to adjust it to fit an animal. One of the reasons I chose to make Flora a black-footed ferret (verses something like a beaver) was because the long slinky shape of a ferret would be easier to dress! However, the black-footed ferret is a (very) endangered species, so finding photo reference proved to be a bit of a challenge. I requested stacks of black-footed ferret books from the library and you know what? It looked like they used the same photos in their books. Since black-footed ferrets are rare and spend most of their time underground, and they are very shy, there are few photographs available of them. I hadn’t really thought about that when I decided to make a ferret my main character. Happily there are plenty of photos of domestic ferrets, so that helped. But just to be clear, Flora is a wild black-footed ferret, not a pampered pet!

What are some special challenges associated with paralleling your book with a classic?

I didn’t set out to write a Cinderella-like story, but it sort of happened. As Flora’s plot line and character developed, so did the connection with other stories like Pygmalion/My Fair Lady and Cinderella (of which there are many). With that rich history in mind, I made a conscious choice to divert away from those classics. Instead of being rescued from the ashes, dolled up and admired for her outer beauty, I wanted the music in Flora’s heart to be the sole reason she ends up in the spotlight. Of course she gets the gorgeous dress and the satisfaction of a fairy tale ending (minus a prince), but she is still just Flora, the ferret with a song in her heart. 

What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?

The story is a fun introduction to jazz and the instruments that are often part of such an ensemble. The history of jazz could be explored father. Listening to jazz recordings with and without vocalists.

It also quietly points out the class differences of the 1920s, from the opulence of the guests and the haughtiness of the upstairs hotel staff, down to Flora, the lowly scullery maid. The Jazzers themselves seem outside the class system and that is worth discussing.