Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People » (Reprint)

Bonnie Christensen illustrated the Folio Society’s limited edition of The Grapes of Wrath and several children’s books, including Moon over Tennessee: A Boy’s Civil War Journal.

Woody Guthrie spent his life putting into words and music what the rest of America was thinking. He roamed from coast to coast and captured the despair of those displaced by the Great Depression and the dust bowl, eulogized workers, and celebrated the great natural beauty of America. This is an introductory biography presented as a picture book with a brief lyrical text and powerful, hand-tinted, woodcut-like illustrations. It includes the complete lyrics to “This Land Is Your Land” and excerpts from his other songs. A book for all ages, it makes this talented and tragic man accessible to young children and will please his older folksinging fans with its stunning art.

Publishers Weekly

Seemingly tapping into the tone of Guthrie's own lyrics, Christensen's (Breaking into Print) folksy, sometimes plaintive narrative offers a resonant profile of this songwriter's life and work. Born in Oklahoma in 1912 to parents who were both fond of singing, Guthrie throughout his childhood "heard the songs that swept across the prairie wind and rain songs, thunder rumbling, lightning crackling songs." The author incorporates snippets of Guthrie's lyrics as she follows his peripatetic path, first to west Texas where he learned to play the guitar and gravitated toward "old-time country music that got people laughing and forgetting their worries" and later to California. Christensen deftly reveals how Guthrie's songwriting was propelled by the issues of his era; he sang his "Dust Bowl ballads" on the radio in Los Angeles and, moved by the plight of unemployed migrant farm workers, coal miners and factory hands, he "became their voice, and songs were his way of speaking." His articulate and far-ranging voice rings clearly through these pages, which feature the full lyrics to "This Land Is Your Land" sprawled in oversize hand lettering across the top of each spread. Reminiscent of woodcuts, the mixed-media, earth-toned illustrations creatively evoke the period and the variegated landscapes of this gifted performer's life. All ages. (Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.