This Boy: The Early Lives of John Lennon & Paul McCartney

by Ilene Cooper Narrated by Stewart Crank

Overview

An inside look at the early lives of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, This Boy is a perfect book for any young reader embracing their inner Beatlemania.

Meant for younger readers, This Boy is a gripping biography of two musical legends. Beginning with their births during World War II England and ending with their famous performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, this book is action packed from beginning to end. Whether you are a lifelong Beatles fan or new to their music, this book is an excellent source of Beatles lore that is relatively unknown. 

    With expert research from Ilene Cooper, this book will serve as not only an interesting biography of two significant historical figures, but also a fun read about rock and roll and how the lives of two people can change the world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

An impressive achievement… “This Boy” is a wonderful primer for the kind of kid who is nuts enough about music to want to grasp the social context in which it was made.”—The New York Times


★“Generously illustrated with period photographs, the beautifully written result is fascinating and compulsively readable, as Cooper dramatically demonstrates that, together, [John Lennon and Paul McCartney] made magic.”—Booklist, starred review

★"Illuminating reading for dreamers and doers already attuned to beats of their own."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review


★ “Cooper masterfully weaves the very different but overlapping lives of [Lennon and ­McCartney]…Lennon’s prickly personality and wild wordplay, compounded by his chaotic family life, is contrasted with McCartney’s loving extended family and his meticulous dedication to craft…An amazing trove of contemporaneous snapshots of the boys and their milieu round out the compelling narrative…A WWII book, a rock ‘n’ roll book, a buddy adventure…Highly recommended for middle graders and middle schoolers.”—School Library Journal, starred review

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2023-06-08
The shaping of two Liverpudlian rascals who grew up to be the most successful songwriting duo of all time.

Readers looking for concise views of the “youthquake” that rock-and-roll records and fashions from the U.S. set off in Great Britain and the evolution of the band that became the Beatles will be well served, but Cooper’s main focus stays foremost on the personalities and formative life experiences (rather than the music) of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. And of the two, it’s Lennon who shines brightest here—an “intense and clever” lad with a reputation as a “neighborhood bad boy” (“How naughty do you have to be to be expelled from kindergarten?”) who shuttled back and forth between his irresponsible but free-spirited birth mother and a stodgy, dependable aunt and brought deep wells of “wit, creativity, and confidence, with a streak of cruelty” to his personal relationships as well as to making and performing music. Paul comes off as rather bland in comparison, though the author does write of the “creative alchemy” (“creative and competitive in equal parts”) that occurred in the wake of their historic meeting at a church garden party in 1957. Both come alive here, and readers who see them as distant products of a vanished era will come away with fresh insight into how their characters, context, and times reflect on our own.

Illuminating reading for dreamers and doers already attuned to beats of their own. (endnotes, bibliography, photos, photo credits, author’s note, index) (Collective biography. 11-15)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176616774
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	08/15/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Videos