  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 09/01/2010 Gr 4–8—Before he was famous, little Jimmy Hendrix tuned into a world colored with the sounds of the city outside the Seattle boarding house where he lived with his father. As a boy he strove to reproduce those sounds on his one-string ukulele, and eventually on a secondhand guitar. Golio's lyrical text sings with delicious description, and Steptoe's wildly colored mixed-media illustrations show the hues of the boy's imagination, with Hendrix always standing out from his surroundings. The story itself focuses on the musician's rise to fame, with a supplementary note and a bibliography providing more detailed background information. His tragic death is dealt with in a separate author's note, accompanied by a list of resources about substance abuse. A fascinating "Illustrator's Note" illuminates the process behind the intriguing artwork and underscores the book's theme of exploring the creative process. This book is likely to fascinate older children and reluctant readers who might be familiar with Hendrix's music, and could easily be tied into art and music curricula.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD - Copyright 2010 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Bulletin for the Center... - 11/01/2010 In this account of Jimi Hendrix’s early years, Golio explores the way a young boy, determined to bring the ambient music of his surroundings to life through painting and guitar, created a revolutionary sound that continues to influence rock and blues musicians. Audiences meet Jimmy (creative orthography was yet to come) as he mimics raindrops on a one-string ukulele, ponders the colors suggested by water and fire, imitates his musical idols on a broom-handle “guitar,” and finally teaches himself to play on his first five-dollar set of used strings. Once Jimmy’s talent is unleashed on a cheap electric guitar, “suddenly the room filled with a rocket’s roar. Crashing waves. The buzz of swarming bees. Jimmy was finally painting with sound!” Kids familiar with Hendrix’s visceral sound and astonishing dexterity may feel shortchanged by the scant two spreads of text and illustration that allude to his fiery performance; specifics about his career are relegated to a somewhat hagiographic “More about Jimi Hendrix” note, and the unavoidable details of his death are corralled into an author’s note that delivers all the correct messages about drug abuse. Website and print resources and a selected discography are included, and an illustrator’s note explains how Steptoe researched and created his vibrant plywood, paper, and paint collages in which a dreamy, almost translucent Hendrix hovers slightly above his gritty urban background. EB - Copyright 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Booklist - 11/01/2010 Although Jimi Hendrix’s music typically sits in the wheelhouse of teenagers discovering their countercultural streak, this picture book deigns to introduce the revolutionary musician to younger readers. By no means a straight bio, it describes his formative early life with lines like “A truck engine backfired, pounding like a bass drum, as a neighbor’s rake played snare against the sidewalk. . . . The sounds of life were calling out, and Jimmy Hendrix wanted to answer them.” It is, however, a convincing portrait of a boy who was electrified by music and heard the world very differently from anyone else; his single-minded drive to “paint with sound” in his own fashion will inspire young artists of all stripes. Steptoe’s chaotic, textured artwork screeches in feedback wails on the page, filled with impressions in lieu of representations. Hendrix’s struggle with drugs is addressed in an afterword, but as pure virtuoso, guitar heroes don’t get any bigger, and readers with hands itching for frets will be entranced. - Copyright 2010 Booklist. Loading...
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