Shake, Rattle and Roll: The Founders of Rock and Roll - Hardcover

George-Warren, Holly; Laura Levine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618055401 ISBN 13: 9780618055401

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001

Synopsis

An introduction to the pioneers of rock-and-roll music highlights the careers of fourteen artists who, nearly fifty years ago, created a brand-new sound and changed the course of popular music forever.

About this title

About the Author

Holly George-Warren has contributed to more than two dozen books about rock and roll, including The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock, and The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll. She's also written for the New York Times, the Village Voice, the Journal of Country Music, and Rolling Stone. Shake, Rattle and Roll is her first book for children. Ms. George-Warren lives in New York City.

Laura Levine's colorful and award-winning illustrations have been widely exhibited and have appeared in numerous magazines and books and on CD covers. Her rock and roll paintings hang in the collections of the House of Blues and the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Her first children's book, Wig!, was a collaboration with the B-52s. Ms. Levine lives in New York City.

Reviews

Gr 4 Up-Fourteen of the originators of rock & roll are featured in this energetic, lighthearted introduction to the 1950s "musical earthquake-that shook everything up." Each double-page spread features a one-page biography facing a full-page portrait of a musician surrounded by whimsical items connected with the artist's best-known hits. Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Wanda Jackson, Ritchie Valens, and James Brown are among the performers profiled. Information includes the musicians' childhood musical backgrounds, how their careers began, short descriptions of their greatest hits and of any unique clothing or hairstyles for which they were famous, and a little about their accomplishments beyond the 1950s. An excellent introduction describes the roots of rock & roll. Old picture frames, some gilded and some simple weathered wood, are used to frame each mixed-media, folk-art-flavored painting. LaVern Baker's "Tweedlee Dee" is recalled by birds hopping across the page, while Jerry Lee Lewis is shown playing a piano from which flames, fiery musical notes, and one great ball of fire emerge. A wonderfully entertaining browsing book that will also fill a gap in most music collections.-Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

In this sanitized compendium of 1950s rock stars, debut children's book writer George-Warren and Levine (Wig!) set themselves the task of translating music and personality to the page. Each spread features a capsule biography of a musician next to his or her portrait, painted on Masonite in an American primitive style and set in a found-object frame. Bill Haley comes first, along with his trademark "one, two, three o'clock, four o'clock ROCK" and a night sky full of "comets"; unfortunately, the writing is straight out of squaresville ("Although Bill Haley was a grownup, he sang about things teens liked and he spoke their language"). Little Richard appears against a glaring yellow background, and the text, which ripples out like sound waves from his portrait, trumpets his signature shriek: "A wop bop a loo bop a wop bam boom, tutti frutti, oh rooti!" Yet these immortal lyrics aren't as punchy in print, despite George-Warren's encouraging remark, "Wow, what a song!" Only a recap of Bo Diddley's signature beat ("Thump-a-thump-a-thump, a-thump-thump") suggests rock's catchy rhythms. The accounts politely bypass legend-making stories of Elvis's pelvis and Jerry Lee Lewis's scandalous marriage and only hint at rock's notorious racism and sexism; the volume cheers pivotal African-American artists like Chuck Berry and James Brown, but lets R&B singer LaVern Baker and rockabilly star Wanda Jackson represent all women rockers. Although oldies fans can appreciate Levine's homemade images, the set of icons resembles a quaint (and quiet) butterfly collection. This tame encyclopedia doesn't have much soul, and the uninitiated may wonder what all the fuss was about. Ages 8-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4-7. All hail rock and roll in a book that's fun to look at and informative but may not easily find an audience. It starts with the art. Laura Levine's acrylic and mixed-media folk-art portraits are catchy and kitschy, but their naive sensibility may be lost on middle-graders, who may look at the oversize layout and think the book is for little kids. The jaunty text helps, though it has the same problem as some of the recent picture books about jazz greats: readers don't know the musician or the music. George-Warren, a rock journalist, does a good job of packing a lot of information into the introduction (especially as she tries to explain the various musical streams that merged into rock.) and into the one-page biographies of each musician. The inclusion of two women, LaVern Baker and Wanda Jackson, seems a sop, especially because their reputations don't compare to those of the real movers and shakers profiled, including Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and of course, Elvis. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0618055401
• ISBN 13: 9780618055401
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32