(2) K-3 Illustrated by Sirin Thada. This tribute to the life and artistry of the iconic musician offers readers a chance to delve into Prince's (1958–2016) evolution from music-loving child to determined young adult set on conquering the industry. Born Prince Rogers Nelson and named for his father's jazz band, he was drawn to music from the start: "Music called out to Prince and he wanted to learn how to make it." A lyrical and accessible text illuminates Prince's artistry, highlighting the obstacles he overcame (such as the ridicule he faced for his height and the emotional toll of his parents' divorce) and painting a compelling picture of his resilience -- culminating in the iconic release of the movie and soundtrack for Purple Rain and ending with his 2007 Super Bowl performance. Thada's illustrations enrich the narrative with vibrant, textured images that seem to dance alongside the words. Her use of bold purples, blues, and gold, combined with "colored pencil and aqueous media," brings Prince's electrifying stage presence and his more introspective moments to life. One spread shows Prince mid-leap, diving off the stage into the audience, conveying the energy and intimacy of his live performances. Thada also includes visual nods to Prince's memorable outfits that longtime fans will appreciate.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(2) K-3 In her time, some said Sister Rosetta Tharpe could make her guitar talk. Today, many credit her unique mix of gospel, jazz, and blues as the foundation for what would become known as rock-and-roll. Born in rural Arkansas in 1915, young Rosetta received her first guitar at four and mastered the instrument in just two years. She performed on the gospel circuit as a child and eventually in nightclubs as a hit-record-making adult, but her contributions to music were often ignored because of her gender and race. Barlow's picture-book biography focuses on Tharpe's childhood, depicting her guitar as echoing the sounds she encounters in her small African American community and debuting in her triumphant first performance at church. The lyrical text is rich with sound words ("The vibrations hummed through her body like bees through a garden"). Movement-filled, whimsical mixed-media illustrations have a folksy feel; the soft pinks, purples, blues, and yellows that recur throughout the pages convey the security and support of Tharpe's tight-knit community. An author's note provides further details about her rise to stardom as well as her lasting, if ignored, impact on many musical genres. An inspiring story that may encourage others to pick up an instrument and make it speak.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by R Gregory Christie. Rosetta Tharpe's (1915–1973) music would influence some of the biggest stars of the twentieth century--from Chuck Berry and Little Richard to Johnny Cash and Aretha Franklin--and change the sound of American music forever. In a picture-book biography that takes Tharpe from childhood in Cotton Plant, Arkansas ("Little girl. Big guitar"), through her adult career, Bolden's dynamic second-person text puts readers in Tharpe's shoes. In tracing her musical successes, readers see her intermingling of musical genres ("mixing it up with Gospel's Cousin Boogie-Woogie, Cousin Jazz, Cousin Swing, Cousin the big, bad Blues") and with it the origin of rock and roll. Bolden describes Tharpe the performer as "bold, audacious--in a word, bodacious, whatever the song." Christie's acryla gouache paintings use bold contrasting colors to show Tharpe as the center of attention as well as the center of the action: singing, praying, duckwalking, and always with fingers flying on the guitar strings. He contrasts crisp angular lines (of industrial modernity--trains, spotlights, skylines) with elegant curves (of the guitar's body, of human figures). A detailed timeline, a lengthy author's note, and brief source notes round out this impressive offering about an often-overlooked figure in American music. Pair with Barlow's Little Rosetta and Her Talking Guitar (rev. 1/23).

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara. This lyrical look at the young life of an enigmatic musician follows Prince through his challenging youth and shows how community support helped him channel hard times into music. The rhythm of Joy's (Choosing Brave, rev. 9/22) poetic text matches the rhythm of Prince's early life, feeling sometimes disjointed as he drifts through a tumultuous childhood and suddenly becomes steady as he finds his way to the style that became known as the Minneapolis Sound. Alcantara's (most recently, illustrator of Climb On!, rev. 5/22) washes of watercolor echo the text's progression, starting with more muted blue tones including peeks of Prince's iconic purple, eventually resolving into a glorious celebration of deep purples as his music develops. Joy's telling of Prince's childhood will resonate with young people who use art to find meaning in difficult days. An author's note relates biographical information more directly; back matter also notes Joy's own connection to Prince and his music and includes a family-friendly playlist of his songs.

Reviewer: Laura Koenig | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(3) YA In Halcyon Lake, Minnesota, Holland Delviss feels endless pressure to prove she's earned her spot as the only girl on the boys' varsity hockey team. Biren's feisty protagonist faces high-stakes challenges--including a make-or-break interview that will determine her small-town team's chance to play in a nationally televised "HockeyFest" game--and the more personal dilemma of whether to follow her no-dating-teammates rule or her heart.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(2) YA Recent high school graduate Lucas doesn't think beyond his next acid trip or the upcoming Woodstock festival. The narrative is related in a first-person voice that cleverly shifts to the third person to portray Lucas's LSD trips as out-of-body experiences. Letters from his motivated girlfriend and a friend serving in Vietnam, newspaper headlines, and draft board notices provide ballast to Lucas's self-centered perspective; eventually, he steps outside of his own experience to see Vietnam as a "working-class war."

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Brett Helquist. Illustrated by Brett Helquist. This look at young Les Paul, the father of the solid-body electric guitar, capably explains the mechanics behind the boy's inventions--arguably a little too capably, as short shrift is given to interiority, although the retro-flavored oil paintings tease out the human element. This book is best suited for readers (including adults) who are already besotted with the rock guitar sound. Bib.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Red Nose Studio. In this innovative look at Elvis Presley's against-the-odds rise from Tupelo, Mississippi, ragamuffin to King of Rock and Roll, Winter gets real: he uses folksy vernacular ("Times is hard") and credits the African American church with the King's sound ("It's black music sung by a Southern white man"). The illustrations--photos of handmade three-dimensional scenes--feature improbably emotive wax-like characters.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) YA During sophomore year, Dia, Hanna, and Jules were best friends and bandmates, yet alcoholism, pregnancy, and a death caused the trio's friendship to fall apart. After graduation, the girls piece back together their friendship to compete in a band talent contest. Chapters alternate among the girls' points of view, showing how each comes into her own in this heart-filled new-adult novel about the value of friendship.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam

(3) 4-6 During two weeks at Camp Rockaway, drummer Melly processes her parents' just-announced divorce, her changing best-friendship, and her first crush on a girl. Meanwhile, she and her bandmates learn how to listen to and support one another. This summer-camp crushmance is filled with realistic characters, witty dialogue, and frequent music references. Hand to tween readers who loved Pérez's The First Rule of Punk.

Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester

(2) YA In this rich, honest companion novel to If I Ever Get Out of Here, seventeen-year-old Carson and fifteen-year-old Maggi prepare for a high-stakes Battle of the Bands. Their alternating first-person narratives, set in 1980 on the Tuscarora Indian Nation near Niagara Falls, offer an intimate look at the teens' lives within their Indigenous culture, which embraces modern popular culture but still often faces outsiders' abuse.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2018

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. Golio presents an account of Santana's boyhood growing up in the birthplace of mariachi music--Jalisco, Mexico--and later moving with his family to Tijuana, where his father buys him his first guitar. The biography focuses on the centrality of family, despite Santana's at-times contentious relationship with his father. Brown faces predominate in the swirling, psychedelic, sixties-inspired acrylic illustrations. An author's note contextualizes Santana's place in American pop culture. Bib., glos.

Reviewer: Lettycia Terrones | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2018

(3) 4-6 In 1966, only Trudy and three nerds remain in Trudy's once-popular Beatles fan club. Amid unsettling changes--an aloof former best friend; a largely absent father; teasing about her full name, Gertrude--Trudy hopes her life will change from meeting Paul McCartney when the Beatles come to Boston. This detail-rich historical novel will resonate with today's tweens nurturing their own passions while dealing with shifting experiences.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jose Ramirez. Mahin's staccato second-person text ("Los congas rumbled into your chest. There was magic in their beat...") lends immediacy to his account of Santana's youth, touching on migration, racial discrimination, and poverty in a manner both accessible and deep. Ramirez's full-bleed Mexican folk art–influenced acrylic and enamel-marker illustrations expertly capture mood and propel the narrative forward. An author's note contextualizes Santana's place in American popular culture. Bib.

Reviewer: Lettycia Terrones | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2018

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by David Litchfield. Neri's pleasantly nostalgia-drenched picture-book biography explores Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel's meeting of musical minds. Although it's not especially lyrical, the quite-lengthy text is laid out like verse, and this, compounded by the outsize book's almost-square dimensions, creates the look of song lyrics on a record sleeve. The heavily retro vibe is reinforced by plenty of visual motifs that leave readers feelin' groovy. Bib.

Reviewer: Nell Beram | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2018

(3) YA Two years after their high-school breakup, musicians Vee and Cam are awkwardly reunited during a nationally televised battle-of-the-bands tour. Through alternating perspectives and shifting chronologies, this breezy but heartfelt debut explores what happened then--and what might be possible now. Music fans and aspiring rock stars will especially enjoy this new-adult road-trip novel.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(3) YA After the devastating sudden death of her former-rock-star father and an unexpected move to a new city, seventeen-year-old aspiring songwriter Susannah joins a band and discovers she's not the only one with a troubled past. Creatively using weather in the Southern California setting to reflect the characters' emotional states, this debut novel is an affecting, intense story about identity, grief, music, and family.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Matthew Cordell. A brown-skinned girl with a "Rock n' Roll Soul" uses rhythmic, rhyming words to extol the virtues of music, from hip-hop to classical, as she prepares to wow the crowd at the school talent show. Cordell's loose pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations seem to vibrate with energy, a perfect complement to the onomatopoeia-filled text. A rocking and empowering read-aloud.

Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester

(3) YA After being the latest tabloid fodder, seventeen-year-old rock-star drummer Emmy King picks herself up with the help of her friends only to face family drama, a controversial coming-out as bisexual, and more trouble in the spotlight. This unashamedly queer romance features a diverse set of characters, including a nonbinary person, and it expertly broaches important topics including gaslighting, addiction, mental health, and abuse.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(3) YA Seventeen-year-old Blade Morrison, son of a famous rocker, just wants to avoid the attention his family receives for his father's drug-and-alcohol-fueled bad behavior. When a family secret is revealed, further alienating Blade, the Hollywood-raised teen embarks on a life-altering trip to Ghana. Alexander's verse, co-written with Hess, evokes the moody emotions of Blade's favorite real-life rock ballads (lyrics to which are interspersed).

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen