Customer Reviews

Shake, Rattle & Roll: The Founders of Rock & Roll

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I ordered this book to be used as a guest book for a rockabilly wedding. The guests were instructed to write a little something and sign anywhere they liked. The bride and groom wanted something more interesting than the traditional guest book which gets packed away and never looked at again. This book was perfect! The written snapshots of the musicians were fun and informative and the artwork was lighthearted and non-conventional. This is fun for adults and kids!

Renowned music journalist Holly George-Warren expertly tells the tales of the pioneers of rock and roll, illuminating hardscrabble aspects of each musician's early life. Kids and parents alike will appreciate how these colorful characters overcame obstacles and through hard work, help from friends and family, and opportunities seized, they changed the face of popular culture. Reading the stories to kids can help educate about both history and music alike.

Laura Levine's playful and highly original illustrations create an inviting landscape where one's imagination can soar.

Perfect book to parallel a unit of oral histories. Rock and roll-everyone has something to say about it. Students will get into the originality of the pictures. Parents and children can read together the well-written material about the hottest names in music history. It has everything to get students to the top of the new standards while connecting with their families and friends!

A really fun book to read to kids--I learned a lot too!

This is an extremely cool book, designed to introduce young readers to some of the founding artists of rock and roll.

Holly George-Warren is one of my favorite rock writers (and also previously fronted the punk/polka Das Furlines), so I know I'm in good hands with HER.

The illustrations by Laura Levine are brilliant and simple, in an "outsider art" style, depicting each artist (Chuck Berry, LIttle Richard, Wanda Jackson, Bill Haley) performing, and surrounded by symbols (and cymbals) of their careers, including famous song titles. The Jerry Lee Lewis picture has a piano keyboard as a frame.

Kids will love it, and adults will enjoy the subtleties of the art. I'm probably going to keep one for myself, and give another to my young godson on his upcoming birthday.

This is a cool and funky book, well worth it to the parent of preschool rockers or aging rockers with kids. In fact, you don't need kids or to be a kid to love this book. If you know "poodle with a mohawk" and other Linda Barry hoozzaas, and you know who you are, then you will love this book. And you will look marrrveloouus reading it.

"Back in the 1950s, there was a musical earthquake called rock & roll that shook everything up." So begins Holly George-Warren's introduction to Shake, Rattle & Roll, and after detailing the origins of "the new sound", she goes on to profile fourteen artists who were instrumental in making it happen. From Bill Haley, Wanda Jackson and Fats Domino, to Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and James Brown, kids will be fascinated as they read about the lives and careers of the musicians who helped start the rock and roll craze. Each short biography is full of historical information, fun facts and trivia, and written in a hip, easy to read, conversational style. Award winning artist, Laura Levine's marvelously bold and bright, folk-art style illustrations, complement Ms George-Warren's text, and show each artist surrounded by words and pictures from his/her best known hits. Together they've authored an engaging and entertaining book that will peak the interest and whet the appetite of young music lovers, everywhere. Perfect for youngsters 9-12, Shake, Rattle & Roll is a joyous, fact filled treasure, and an introduction to rock and roll that shouldn't be missed.