Overview
'Elvis left no one indifferent to rock and roll'?so begins award-winning author Wilborn Hampton's thoughtful account of the beloved and controversial Elvis Presley. When Elvis shook his hips and sang his soulful songs, teenagers screamed and parents fretted. Fans, record executives, movie producers, and even the army wanted a piece of this enigmatic performer and shy boy from Tupelo, Mississippi. What Elvis gave them changed music forever.
This latest addition to Viking's ongoing biography series, Up Close, includes gorgeous black-and-white photographs and introduces readers to the complicated life of the king of rock and roll.
Synopsis
“Elvis left no one indifferent to rock and roll”—so begins award-winning author Wilborn Hampton's thoughtful account of the beloved and controversial Elvis Presley. When Elvis shook his hips and sang his soulful songs, teenagers screamed and parents fretted. Fans, record executives, movie producers, and even the army wanted a piece of this enigmatic performer and shy boy from Tupelo, Mississippi. What Elvis gave them changed music forever.
This latest addition to Viking's ongoing biography series, Up Close, includes gorgeous black-and-white photographs and introduces readers to the complicated life of the king of rock and roll.
VOYA
The short biographies of twentieth-century lives in the Up-Close Biographies series are captivating in their down-to-earth readability and compassionate narrations. Hampton paints Elvis Presley's life as one of extraordinary talent raised from small-town limitations to the height of stardom, ever focusing on the goodness of the man through his tumultuous life, even as his weakness and addiction destroyed the rock 'n' roll legend. Beginning with a personal vignette of his own rock 'n' roll conversion and employing some of youth's euphemisms-Hampton describes Elvis and his early love Dixie as "going together" and deciding to "not go all the way" before marriage-Hampton relates how the polite and truthful youth who "just wanted to please people" unwittingly transformed into a musical phenomenon and continued to become a drug-addicted has-been performing often without joy, and at the end, even with malice. Throughout, each author speaks to the subject's ability to balance family and professional pressures. They combine a sympathetic tone with accessible writing and a small finished book size, making the series appealing to readers grade seven and up. Other figures profiled in this series are Robert F. Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey, Rachel Carson, and Johnny Cash.
Editorials
VOYA -
The short biographies of twentieth-century lives in the Up-Close Biographies series are captivating in their down-to-earth readability and compassionate narrations. Hampton paints Elvis Presley's life as one of extraordinary talent raised from small-town limitations to the height of stardom, ever focusing on the goodness of the man through his tumultuous life, even as his weakness and addiction destroyed the rock 'n' roll legend. Beginning with a personal vignette of his own rock 'n' roll conversion and employing some of youth's euphemisms-Hampton describes Elvis and his early love Dixie as "going together" and deciding to "not go all the way" before marriage-Hampton relates how the polite and truthful youth who "just wanted to please people" unwittingly transformed into a musical phenomenon and continued to become a drug-addicted has-been performing often without joy, and at the end, even with malice. Throughout, each author speaks to the subject's ability to balance family and professional pressures. They combine a sympathetic tone with accessible writing and a small finished book size, making the series appealing to readers grade seven and up. Other figures profiled in this series are Robert F. Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey, Rachel Carson, and Johnny Cash.School Library Journal
Gr 7 Up
From the foreword, readers learn that Hampton has an admiration for Elvis that reaches back to his childhood. His enthusiasm and passion for his subject are evident throughout this appealing biography, yet he remains objective about the performer's virtues as well as his tragic flaws. The striking cover photograph complements the lively and accessible text that delves not only into Elvis's life but also his impact on music and American culture. The writing is casual yet authoritative, and includes occasional black-and-white photographs. Readers who can't imagine a world without rock and roll will find this to be an excellent introduction to the man about whom John Lennon once said, "Before there was Elvis, there was nothing."
—Marcia KochelCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.